SB 
369 
T32 


UC-NRLF 


O 
UJ 


CITRUS  AND   TROPICAL 

FRUIT  TREES 

a  /monograph  on 

PLANTING,  CULTURE  AND  CARE 


These  trees  shall  be  my  books, 

And  in  their  barks  my  thoughts  I  '11  character." 

At  You  Like  It.    Hi,  3. 


THE  R.  M.  TEAGUE  NURSERIES 

SAN  DIMAS,  CALIFORNIA,  U.S.  A. 


LOS  ANGELES  COUNTY 


'Cltfl'OS  AND   TROPICAL  FRUITS 

FOR    HOME    PLANTING 

For  those  desiring  a  combination  of  citrus  and  tropical 
fruit  trees  that  will  furnish  the  home  with  these  fruits  all 
the  year,  we  are  offering  the  following  collection: 

CITRUS  FRUITS  ONLY 

Collection  No.  1.  Three  citrus  trees  5/8  to  24  >nch 
caliper,  consisting  of  1  Washington  Naval,  1  Valencia  Late 
and  1  Eureka  Lemon. 

All  for  $3.50  f.  o.  b.,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  2.  Five  citrus  trees  5/8  to  %  inch 
caliper,  consisting  of  1  Washington  Naval,  1  Valencia  Late, 
I  Eureka  Lemon,  I  Marsh  Seedless  Pomelo,  and  1  Willow 
Leaved  Mandarin. 

AH  for  $5.75  f.  o.  b.,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  3.  Seven  citrus  trees  5/8  to  %  inch 
caliper,  excepting  Tangerines  and  Satsumas  which  caliper 
|/2  to  5/8:  1  Washington  Navel,  1  Valencia  Late,  1  Dancy 
Tangerine,  I  Satsuma,  1  Tangelo,  1  Marsh  Seedless  Pomelo 
and  1  Eureka  Lemon. 

All  for  $8.00  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  4.  Seven  new  and  rare  varieties  of 
citrus  trees  consisting  of  the  following:  1  Golden  Nugget 
Navel,  1  Lue  Gim  Gong  Orange,  1  Algerian  Tangerine,  I 
Algerian  Mandarin,  1  Sampson  Tangelo,  1  Citron  of  Com- 
merce and  1  Citrus  Limonium  (Dwarf  Lemon). 

All  for  $15.00  f.  o.b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

TROPICAL  FRUITS  ONLY 

Collection  No.  5.  Three  Avocados  and  1  Feijoa,  all 
2  to  3  ft.  stock  as  follows:  Avocados — 1  Fuerta,  1  Puebla 
and  1  Northrup;  1  Feijoa  choiceana. 

All  for  $12.50  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  6.  Five  Avocados  and  2  Feijoas,  all  2 
to  3  feet  stock,  as  follows:  Avocados — 1  Fuerta,  1  Puebla, 
1  Spinks,  I  Sharpless  and  1  Dickinson;  Feijoas — 1  Choice- 
ana  and  1  Superba. 

All  for  $21.00  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  7.  Five  Avocados,  2  Feijoas,  1  Sapota 
and  1  Cherimoya  as  follows:  Avocados — i  Puebla,  1  Sharp- 
less,  1  Dickinson,  1  Northrup  and  1  Ganter;  Feijoas — 2 
Choiceana,  1  White  Sapota  and  1  Cherimoya. 

All  for  $24.00  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

CITRUS  AND  TROPICAL  COMBINATIONS 

Collection  No.  8.      Three  citrus  trees,  2  Avocados  and 

1  Feijoa  as  follows:     Citrus — 1   Washington  Navel,    1   Valen- 
cia Late  and    1    Eureka   Lemon;  Avocados 1    Fuerte  and    1 

Puebla  and   1    Feijoa  choiceana. 

All  for  $12.50  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  9.  Five  citrus  trees  and  3  Avocados  as 
follows:  Citrus — 1  Washington  Navel,  1  Valencia  Late,  1 
Willow  Leaved  Mandarin,  I  Marsh  Seedless  Pomelo  and  1 
Eureka  Lemon;  Avocados — 1  Fuerte,  1  Sharpless  and  1 
Linda. 

AH  for  $16.00  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Collection  No.  10.      Seven  citrus  trees,  4  Avocados  and 

2  Feijoas  as  follows:      Citrus 1    Washington  Navel,    1    Val- 
encia Late,    1    Dancy  Tangerine,    1    Willow  Leaved  Mandarin, 
1    Tangelo,    I    Marsh  Seedless  Pomelo  and    1    Eureka  Lemon; 
Avocados — 1    Fuerta,    1    Puebla,    1    Sharpless  and    I    Dickin- 
son; Feijoas — 2   Choiceana. 

All  for  $26.00  f.  o.  b.  San  Dimas,  Cal. 

Note:  Those  desiring  a  different  selection  of  oranges 
may  substitute  any  of  the  following:  Navelencia,  Thomson 
Improved  Navel,  Mediterranean  Sweet,  St.  Michael  or 
Homosassa;  also  the  Northrup  or  Ganter  Avocados  may  be 
substituted  in  the  Avocado  list. 
Terms:  Cash  with  order. 


A  CALIFORNIA  FRUIT 

ON  the  re-verse  side  of  this  sheet  is  pic- 
tured the  Washington  Navel  Orange 
in  all  its  glory.   No  one  product  has 
done    more    toward    increasing    the 
fame   of    California    horticulturally    than    this 
orange.    At  the  same  time  California  must  be 
given  credit  for  its  part  in  making  this  orange  so 
•well  known  throughout  the  world,  for  in  no 
other  orange-growing  section  does  it  reach  the 
high  state  of  perfection,  both   in  quality  and 
production,  that  it  does  here. 

Its  superb  eating  qualities  are  unexcelled. 
Possessing  a  flavor  peculiarly  its  own,  with 
abundance  of  juice,  fine  grain,  freedom  from 
rag  and  being  absolutely  seedless,  together  with 
its  good  shape,  smooth,  high-colored  peel  and 
good  keeping  qualities,  it  is  truly  the  peer  of  all 
oranges. 


A 


RINCIPLES  AND  PRACTICES  OF  CIT- 
RUS AND  TROPICAL  FRUIT  CUL- 
TURE FROM  THE  NURSERY  TREE  TO 
THE  FULL  BEARING  ORCHARD,  TO- 
GETHER WITH  TIMELY  SUGGES- 
TIONS ON  HARVESTING,  PACKING  AND  MAR- 
KETING, BASED  ON  THIRTY-THREE  YEARS' 
EXPERIENCE  IN  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA. 


FOUNDED   IN    1889   BY   R.   M.   TEAGUE 


TELEGRAPH,    TELEPHONE,    POSTOFFICE   AND   EXPRESS  ADDRESS 

THE  R.  M.  TEAGUE  NURSERIES 

SAN  DIMAS,  CALIFORNIA. 


Copyrighted   in    1921   by  R.   M.   Teague. 
PRICE  50  CENTS 


PRESERVATION 
COPY  ADDED 
ORIGINAL  TO  BE 
RETAINED 


TEAGUE  QUALITY  BUD  AND  ROOT-SELECTED  TREES. 


IF  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  that  has  tended  to  improve  quality  and 
bearing  capacity  of  fruit  trees,  it  is  the  selection  of  buds  from  record  bearing 
trees  in  the  propagation  of  citrus  and  tropical  fruit  plants.     It  is  a  subject  that 
has  been  exhaustively  studied  by  the  'Department  of  Agriculture  and  Experiment 
Stations,  and  of  late  years  has  found  practical  operation  in  the  Fruit  Growers 
Supply  Company  (a  subsidiary  corporation  of  the  California  Fruit  Exchange),  which, 
after  years  of  close  observation,  has  now  sufficient  record  trees  under  its  observation  to 
form  a  reliable  source  of  supply  for  selected  citrus  buds.     In  addition  the  Avocado 
Association  is  pursuing  a  similar  line  of  action.     Having  for  years  been  a  consistent 
advocate  of  bud,  selection,  and  being  keenly  alive  to  the  work  already  accomplished, 
we  are  growing'-  ^IJ-  our  '-attfu^r'&Od'.  Avocado  trees  only  from  certified  selected   buds 
obtaind  from  th^Fruit  Growers^  S.uppLy  Company  and  the  California  Avocado  Asso- 
ciation, thereby;  ilTslipftg  quality  ia&l  quantity  bearing  trees  to  all  our  patrons. 


But  this  of  itself  will  hardly  insure  a  profitable  tree  —  the  bud  must  have  a  good 
foundation;  in  other  words  the  root  stock  and  its  proper  development  must  be  right. 
Here  we  put  in  force  the  elimination  of  the  unfit.  Every  seedling  tree  that  exhibits  a 
weak  or  faulty  root  development  is  discarded;  and  when  we  discard  fully  forty  per  cent 
of  our  seedling  trees  every  year  because  of  faulty  devlopment  the  reader  will  appreciate 
that  we  practice  root  selection  as  well  as  bud  selection.  These  two  basic  principles 
rigidly  enforced  give  us  the  nucleus  or  foundation  for  growing  good  trees.  Then  comes 
intelligent  care  —  proper  culture  and  training,  so  that  the  tree  will  be  of  good  form  and 
habit,  capable  of  functioning  along  lines  that  will  prove  a  pleasure  and  a  source  of 
profit  to  their  owners.  That  our  efforts  have  been  appreciated  by  planters  in  general, 
is  evidenced  by  the  ever-increasing  demand  for  Teague  trees,  not  only  in  California, 
but  throughout  the  citrus  growing  sections  of  the  world  :  Old  Mexico,  South  America, 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  the  Philippines,  Australia,  South  Africa, 
China,  Japan  and  India. 

Realizing  the  importance  of  some  of  the  more  desirable  tropical  fruits,  we  have 
lately  added  the  growing  of  such  varieties  as  give  promise  of  having  a  commercial  future 
in  California  horticulture,  and  their  propagation  is  being  carried  out  in  the  same  pains- 
taking manner  that  has  made  Teague  citrus  trees  so  well  and  favorably  known. 

We  have  endeavored  to  make  the  articles  on  care  and  culture  explicit, 
so  that  those  just  engaging  in  this  line  of  work  will  understand  the  procedure 
necessary  to  properly  care  for  their  trees.  As  stated  elsewhere,  the  varying  conditions 
both  as  to  climate  and  soil,  make  it  impossible  to  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rule,  and 
the  planter  must  rely  on  his  own  judgment,  in  cases  where  these  two  conditions  make 
cultural  changes  necessary. 


CITRUS  AND  SUB-TROPICAL  FRUITS 

THEIR  CULTURE,  CARE  AND  MARKETING 


IN  presenting  this  treatise  on  Citrus  and  Sub- 
Tropical  fruits,  it  is  our  aim  to  give  those  inter- 
ested in  the  culture  of  these  fruits,  such  infor- 
mation and  advice  as  our  experience  and  obser- 
vation, covering  a  great  many  years  of  active  work 
along  these  lines,  will  warrant. 

While  space  in  a  book  of  this  kind  necessitates  be- 
ing brief,  we  shall  endeavor  to  touch  on  the  essential 
points  necessary  to  give  the  novice  an  insight  into  the 
habits,  requirements,  culture  and  care  of  those  vari- 
eties we  enumerate  to  enable  him  to  at  least  start 
right  in  laying  the  foundation  for  a  successful  com- 
mercial orchard,  or  in  growing  the  few  trees  neces- 
sary to  supply  the  home  with  those  fruits  peculiar  to 
our  California  climate. 

It  is  with  pardonable  pride  that  we  point  to  the 
many  acres  of  profitable  citrus  orchards  planted  to 
Teague  trees  during  the  past  thirty-three  years,  and 
we  want  to  here  thank  our  many  friends  and  patrons, 
whose  continued  trade  throughout  all  these  years  has 
not  only  enabled  us  to  keep  increasing  our  business, 
but  has  spurred  us  on  to  increased  efforts  in  the  pro- 
duction of  better  and  more  prolific  stock.  Starting  in 
business  we  adopted  the  slogan,  "When  better  trees 
are  grown,  Teague  will  grow  them,"  and  to  that  end 
we  have  and  shall  continue  to  put  forth  every  effort 
to  grow  the  best  trees  that  experience  and  money  can 
produce. 

To  within  the  last  year  we  have  devoted  our  entire 
time  and  attention  to  the  growing  of  citrus  fruit 
trees,  but  with  the  advent  of  some  of  the  more  prom- 
ising sub-tropical  fruits  into  the  commercial  fruit- 
growing industry  of  California,  and  realizing  that 
there  was  a  wide  field  for  the  propagation  of  these 
fruits  if  handled  along  the  same  lines  that  have 
proven  so  successful  with  us  in  citrus  propagation,  we 


decided  to  take  up  the  growing  of  such  varieties  as  in 
our  judgment  give  promise  of  possessing  commercial 
importance. 

Knowing  that  for  the  successful  propagation  of  the 
sub-tropical  fruit  trees,  we  must  have  land  practically 
free  from  frost  where  the  most  tender  plants  can 
be  grown  in  the  open  the  year  around,  we  have  re- 
cently purchased  a  ninety-acre  tract  in  La  Habra 
Heights,  northwest  of  the  town  of  La  Habra  and 
just  across  the  county  line  in  Los  Angeles  County. 

This  tract  of  land  is  particularly  well  located  for 
nursery  purposes,  being  partially  surrounded  by  low 
hills,  which  practically  isolates  it  from  the  valley 
proper,  removes  the  danger  of  damage  from  heavy 
winds,  and  being  an  entirely  new  sub-division  reduces 
the  danger  of  scale  infestation  to  a  minimum. 

The  elevation  is  sufficient  to  make  it  practically 
immune  to  frost  damage  to  even  the  most  tender- 
plant,  and  the  soil,  a  deep  rich  loam,  washed  in  from 
the  adjacent  hills  in  ages  past,  insures  a  perfect  and 
most  vigorous  root  system  which  is  really  the  founda- 
tion, of  all  successful  plant  life.  With  this  location 
we  know  we  can  produce  and  deliver  to  our  cus- 
tomers the  most  perfect  specimens  of  both  citrus  and 
sub-tropical  trees. 

While  we  shall  in  the  future  grow  most  of  our 
stock  in  this  new  location,  the  many  years  of  success- 
ful dealings  and  association  with  planters  and  dealers 
from  the  different  citrus  growing  sections  of  the 
world,  having  been  transacted  from  our  San  Dimas 
office,  we  deem  it  advisable  to  maintain  our  head- 
quarters here,  where  we  are  perfectly  equipped  to 
handle  and  pack  stock  in  the  best  possible  condition 
for  local  or  long  distance  shipment  and  where  we  are 
always  glad  to  meet  those  interested  in  horticulture, 
show  our  stock  and  explain  our  methods  of  growing 
and  selling  trees. 


526043 


'?»**• 

4  Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


A   Fruit   Growers  Supply    Company    Washington    Navel    performance    record   tree 


CITRUS  FRUITS 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  go  into  detail  regarding 
the  early  introduction  of  citrus  fruits  in  California; 
however,  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening  those  not 
familiar  with  early  events  in  the  citrus  history  of  the 
state,  it  will  probably  not  be  out  of  place  to  recite 
some  of  the  more  important  occurrences  connected 
with  the  industry  that  have  added  so  much  to  Cali- 
fornia's horticultural  wealth. 

It  is  said  that  California  owes  the  introduction  of 
horticulture  to  the  Mission  Fathers  who,  first  of  all, 
planted  fruit-bearing  trees  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Coming  north  from  Lower  California  in  1769, 
they  established  their  first  Mission  at  San  Diego  and 
worked  northward,  locating  Missions  wherever  con- 
ditions warranted.  In  all  they  established  twenty-one 
Missions,  and  it  is  said  that  at  all  but  three  of  these 
gardens  and  orchards  were  planted.  These  plantings 
ranged  from  just  a  few  trees  to  several  hundred  and 
consisted  chiefly  of  oranges,  figs,  grapes  and  olives. 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  of  these  fruits  are 
now  important  industries  in  California  horticulture, 
although  a  hundred  years  elapsed  after  they  were 
first  introduced  before  they  attained  commercial  im- 
portance. 

It  is  said  that  the  most  extensive  orange  orchard  of 
early  planting  was  at  the  San  Gabriel  Mission,  in 
this  county,  planted  by  "Father"  Thomas  Sanchez 
in  the  year  1804.  Other  small  plantings  were  made 
in  and  around  Los  Angeles,  the  most  notable  of  which 
was  planted  by  William  Wolf  skill  in  what  is  now  the 
heart  of  Los  Angeles  city,  in  the  year  1841,  and  con- 
sisted of  two  acres.  This  acreage  was  added  to  from 
time  to  time,  but  as  late  as  1862  it  is  recorded  that 
there  were  but  25,000  orange  trees  in  the  entire  state, 
and  fully  half  of  these  were  in  the  Wolfskill  orchards. 
Other  sections  of  the  state  were  also  credited-  with 
some  of  the  early  plantings,  all  of  which  were  grown 
from  seed.  These  sections  ranged  from  San  Diego  on 
the  south  to  as  far  north  as  Shasta  County. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


A    record   bearing    Valencia    Late    orange  tree:  a  source  of  our  selected  bud  supply. 


It  was  not,  however,  until  about  1870  that  exten- 
sive acreages  began  to  be  planted  at  Riverside  and 
elsewhere,  when  citrus  culture  gave  evidence  of  be- 
coming an  important  commercial  enterprise. 

The  real  foundation  for  California  supremacy  in 
citrus  culture  was  laid  by  the  introduction  of  the  two 
historical  Washington  Navel  orange  trees,  from 
which  sprang  the  vast  acreage  of  Navel  orchards  that 
now  grace  the  landscape  of  California. 

This  variety  was  introduced  into  the  United  States 
by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  1870  and  propa- 
gated in  the  orange  house  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
Two  of  these  trees  were  sent  to  Mrs.  L.  C*  Tibbets, 
of  Riverside,  in  1873.  These  two  trees  are  now  the 
most  celebrated  fruit  trees  in  Riverside  and  are 


guarded  with  the  most  tender  care  by  its  citizens.  In 
1913  one  was  transplanted  to  the  grounds  of  the 
Mission  Inn  by  the  late  Colonel  Roosevelt  during 
one  of  his  visits  to  Southern  California,  the  other 
still  stands  at  the  head  of  Magnolia  avenue,  where 
it  enjoys  the  distinction  of  an  enclosure  with  a  tablet 
telling  of  its  accomplishments. 

While  the  Washingon  Navel  played  a  most  im- 
portant part  in  California  citrus  culture,  it  remained 
for  the  Valencia  Late  to  complete  the  fame  of  Cali- 
fornia as  an  all-the-year  shipper  of  citrus  fruits. 
Ripening  just  as  the  shipment  of  Navels  is  about  over, 
its  fine  keeping  qualities  enables  us  to  continue  ship- 
ments over  a  period  of  four  or  five  months,  or  until 
the  first  of  the  new  Navel  crop  is  ready  for  market. 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


Thus  we  are  able  to  give  the  consumer  fresh  oranges 
every  month  in  the  year.  These  two  varieties  are  the 
only  ones  grown  on  an  extensive  scale. 

The  Ruby  Blood,  Paper  Rind  St.  Michael,  Medi- 
terranean Sweet,  Joppa,  and  some  of  the  Mandarin 
types  are  grown  to  a  limited  extent  commercially, 
while  the  Seedling  orange  of  the  early  days  is  fast  be- 
coming a  thing  of  the  past,  many  of  the  older  or- 


Referring  to  the  superiority  of  the  foreign  lemon 
at  that  time  he  says:  "Years  ago  my  attention  was 
drawn  toward  the  apparent  truth  that  California 
could  not  produce  a  good  lemon,  for  the  San  Fran- 
cisco market  quoted  foreign  lemons  at  $5.00  and 
$6.00  per  box,  domestic,  at  $1.00  and  $2.00,  and 
even  less.  These  last  were  always  overgrown  Seed- 
ling lemons,  which  should  have  left  the  trees  months 


A   Eureka  lemon  performance  tree  from  which  Fruit  Growers  Supply  Company  buds  are  cut 


chards  having  been  either  taken  out  or  budded  over 
to  Navels  or  Valencies,  and  no  Seedling  orchards  are 
being  planted. 

Lemon  growing  did  not  become  an  important  factor 
in  California  horticulture  until  some  years  after  the 
orange.  While  there  were  scattering  trees  here  and 
there,  and  even  some  small  orchards,  it  was  not  until 
the  early  nineties  that  the  industry  began  to  assume 
importance. 

-  In  referring  to  a  report  issued  by  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture  in  1891,  we  find  an  article  by  G.  W. 
Garcelon  of  Riverside,  entitled  "Fifteen  Years  with 
-the  Lemon,"  in  which  he  describes  his  efforts  to  work 
out  the  lemon  problem  so  that  California  lemons 
could  successfully  compete  with  the  foreign  importa- 
tion. 


before.  But  they  grew  larger,  made  fewer  to  the 
box,  and  made — yes,  made  those  who  used  them, 
profane  over  their  efforts  to  extract  any  juice  from 
them." 

Mr.  Garcelon's  efforts  were  confined  principally 
to  working  out  methods  for  holding  over  the  winter 
lemons  so  that  they  could  be  marketed  in  the  sum- 
mer, which,  at  that  time,  was  the  only  season  of  the 
year  lemons  were  used. 

Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Garcelon  and  others, 
whose  faith  in  California  lemons  prompted  them  to 
spend  their  time  and  money  in  studying  out  successful 
methods  of  growing  and  handling  this  fruit,  we'  are 
now  able  to  give  the  consumer  a  better  lemon  than 
the  imported  ones. 

On   account   of  lemons  being  more   tender  than 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


oranges  they  are  not  so  generallly  planted,  but  the 
planting  on  the  higher  and  more  protected  lands  of 
the  five  southern  counties,  viz.,  San  Diego,  Orange, 
Los  Angeles,  Ventura  and  Santa  Barbara,  has  as- 
sumed quite  extensive  proportions.  There  has  also 


been  able  to  successfully  compete  with  the  Florida 
fruit  in  the  Eastern  markets.  This  is  due  to  two 
reasons;  first,  sufficient  care  has  not  been  exercised  in 
selecting  types  of  fruit  particularly  adapted  to  our 
soil  and  climatic  conditions ;  and  secondly,  we  have 


A   fine  type   of   bud  supply   Marsh   Seedless  pomelo   tree. 


been  considerable  lemon  planting  in  the  protected 
sections  along  the  east  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

The  present  moneyed  value  of  California's  annual 
lemon  crop  is  about  $12,000,000.00,  so  it  will  be  seen 
that  lemon  culture  has  become  an  important  factor 
in  our  horticultural  outputs. 

Pomelos  (Grapefruit)  are  not  being  planted  as  ex- 
tensively as  either  oranges  or  lemons.  While  they  do 
extremely  well  and  are  prolific  bearers,  we  have  not 


always  insisted  on  trying  to  market  our  fruit  before 
it  is  thoroughly  mature,  thus  giving  the  consumer  the 
impression  that  we  cannot  grow  a  good  pomelo. 

With  the  advent  of  bud  selection  and  state  laws 
prohibiting  the  shipment  of  immature  fruit  we  hope 
to  put  a  superior  quality  of  pomelos  on  the  market, 
and  thus  demonstrate  that  we  can  supply  the  con- 
sumer with  fruit  equal  to  the  best.  Pomelos  will 
grow  wherever  oranges  do  well,  but  reach  a  higher 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


state  of  perfection  in  the  interior  valleys,  where  the 
day  and  night  temperature  during  the  summer  months 
is  more  nearly  uniform. 

Another  feature  favorable  to  pomelo  culture  is  the 
fact  that  they,  in  common  with  oranges,  are  being 
more  generally  used  throughout  the  entire  year,  thus 
increasing  their  consumption  to  a  great  extent.  This 
is  particularly  favorable  for  California,  as  our 
pomelos  are  at  their  best  during  the  summer  months 
when  the  Florida  fruit  is  off  the  market. 

With  the  improvement  in  types,  and  by  holding 
our  fruit  until  it  is  mature,  we  can  establish  a  reputa- 
tion for  quality  that  will  not  only  increase  the  con- 
sumption in  the  United  States,  but  may  lead  to  a 
large  export  trade  to  foreign  countries  where  pomelos 
are  at  present  very  little  known. 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  note  the  increase  of  citrus 
products  in  this  state.  Beginning  with  the  year  1883, 
when  there  were  shipped  out  of  Southern  California 
150  carloads  of  oranges;  in  1886  the  output  had  in- 
creased to  1,000  carloads;  in  1890-'91  there  were 
shipped  3920  carloads,  and  in  1898-'99  a  total  of 
15,006  carloads  were  sent  out.  Of  this  amount 

1.500  cars  were  lemons 

Ten  years  later,  for  the  season  1908-'09,  there 
were  6,196  cars  of  lemons  and  31,895  cars  of  oranges, 
a  total  of  38,091  cars  from  Southern  California  and 

2.501  cars  of  oranges  and  lemons  from  points  north 
of  the  Tehachapi: 

For  1920  the  total  production  of  oranges  was 
18,700,000  boxes,  and  of  lemons  4,500,000  boxes; 
the  combined  value  of  which  was  $54,125,000. 

The  present  annual  income  from  California's 
citrus  crop  is  something  like  $50,000,000.00,  and  the 
value  of  the  orchards  themselves  is  approximately 
$400,000,000.00. 

GROWING  TEAGUE  QUALITY  TREES 

It  will  no  doubt  be  of  interest  to  those  engaged  in 
citrus  culture  to  know  how  we  grow  our  nursery 
trees.  We  feel  that  the  buyer  is  entitled  to  know 
what  care  and  attention  has  been  bestowed  upon  the 
trees  he  is  paying  out  good  money  for  and  on  which 
he  expects  to  spend  more  money  and  time  in  bringing 
them  to  a  profitable  bearing  stage.  For  upon  the 
proper  methods  of  budding,  growing  and  handling  of 
the  young  trees  in  the  nursery  row,  largely  depends 
the  success  or  failure  of  the  planter  to  realize  a  prof- 
itable orchard  (it  being  assumed  that  he  is  going  to 
do  his  part  in  caring  for  the  orchard),  we  are  sure 
that  every  planter  wants  to  feel  assured  that  the 
nurseryman  has  left  nothing  undone  that  might  affect 
the  future  growth  and  productiveness  of  his  orchard. 
With  that  idea  in  view,  we  shall  briefly  describe  the 
essentials  in  the  production  of  Teague  quality  trees. 

As  far  as  possible  we  grow  our  own  seedling  stock 
and  for  this  purpose  select  the  best  sour  orange  seed 
available.  In  order  to  insure  hardy  plants,  we  sow 
our  seed  in  the  open  and  allow  it  to  come  up  and 
make  its  first  season's  growth  under  natural  condi- 
tions. In  transplanting  the  young  seedlings  to  the 


nursery  row,  we  select  only  those  showing  the  most 
vigor  and  hardiness,  the  remainder  being  discarded. 
Every  care  is  exercised  in  digging  to  secure  all  the 
fibrous  roots  possible  and  extreme  precaution  is  used 
in  protecting  the  same  from  the  sun  and  air  while 
moving  them  from  the  seed-bed  to  the  nursery  row. 
We  plant  all  of  our  stock  fifteen  inches  apart  in  the 
row  and  the  rows  four  feet  apart.  This  allows  plenty 
of  room  for  irrigating,  cultivating  and  hoeing  and 
insures  a  strong,  vigorous  tree.  Only  such  pruning 
is  done  as  is  necessary  to  keep  the  trunk  of  the  young 
tree  free  from  sprouts  and  side  branches  up  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground  some  6  or  8  inches. 

The  seedlings  are  allowed  to  make  two  summer's 
growth  in  the  nursery  row  before  they  are  budded. 
This  gives  us  a  seedling  with  sufficient  strength  and 
vigor  to  force  a  good  thrifty  bud.  In  budding,  we 
aim  to  get  the  bud  from  six  to  eight  inches  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  which  allows  plenty  of 
room  so  that  with  ordinary  care  in  planting  there  is 
no  danger  of  getting  the  bud  set  below  the  level  of 
the  soil — a  condition  that  is  almost  sure  to  be  fatal 
to  all  varieties  of  budded  citrus  trees,  especially  if 
planted  on  heavy  land. 

The  budding  is  done  in  the  fall  and  spring,  Octo- 
ber and  November  being  the  two  falls  months  in 
which  it  is  done  and  April  and  May  the  usual  time 
for  spring  budding.  The  advantage  of  fall  budding 
is  that  they  heel  in,  but  do  not  make  any  growth  until 
spring,  when  they  are  ready  to  start  with  the  first 
flow  of  sap  and  are  usually  a  foot  or  more  high  before 
it  is  possible  to  begin  the  spring  budding. 

BUD  SELECTION 

One  of  the  most  important  parts  in  the  growing  of 
good  nursery  stock,  and  one  which  we  have  always 
given  very  close  attention,  is  the  matter  of  selecting 
good  buds  and  we  point  with  pardonable  pride  to  the 
many  profitable  orchards  in  different  parts  of  Cali- 
fornia grown  from  trees  of  our  own  raising.  Realiz- 
ing that  in  order  to  produce  trees  yielding  good  crops 
of  high  grade  fruit,  it  is  necessary  to  select  buds 
from  the  best  and  most  prolific  types  of  the  varieties 
desired,  we  have  always  exercised  every  precaution  to 
get  only  the  best. 

With  the  advent  of  what  is  known  as  pedigreed  or 
selected  buds,  that  is  the  selection  of  buds  taken  from 
trees  having  a  record  for  quality  and  quantity  pro- 
ductiveness, we  have  decided  to  use  only  this  kind 
of  buds.  For  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  reader  to 
realize  the  importance  of  this  feature,  we  will  give 
a  brief  history  of  the  events  leading  up  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  bud  selection  department  of  the  Fruit 
Growers'  Supply  Company. 

Going  back  to  the  time  when  the  orchard  industry 
was  in  its  infancy,  when  what  few  orchards  there 
were  consisted  almost  entirely  of  seedling  orange 
trees,  grown  from  seed  selected  at  random  from  trees 
producing  desirable  types  of  fruit,  little  attention  was 
paid  to  any  particular  selection  of  seed  or  plants  and 
the  grower  who  made  any  effort  to  select  seed  from 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


any  particular  type  of  orange  was  considered  to  be 
wasting  his  time.  Just  so  the  fruit  was  edible  was 
all  that  was  considered  necessary.  About  the  time  the 
importance  of  the  Washington  Navel  orange  became 
established,  there  was  also  introduced  into  the  state 
a  type  of  Navel  orange  known  as  the  Australian 
Navel,  a  variety  or  type  somewhat  similar,  but  in 
every  way  inferior,  to  the  Washington  Navel,  its 


learned  to  avoid  selecting  budwood  where  they  was 
any  danger  of  getting  the  Australian  type. 

In  spite  of  care,  however,  the  nurserymen  were 
still  receiving  complaints  from  planters  that  a  certain 
percentage  of  so-called  Australian  Navels  showed  up 
in  the  stock  purchased  from  them,  and  on  examina- 
tion it  was  found  that  certain  trees,  while  not  having 
all  the  traits  of  the  Australian  type,  were  decidedly 


Precocious  rows  of  one-year-old   Washington  Navels,    showing    blooming    and    jruiting    qualities. 


chief  objection  being  that  the  tree  was  a  shy  bearer. 
Both  types  were  seedless,  or  nearly  so,  and  the  only 
method  of  reproduction  was  by  budding. 

The  Washington  Navel  being  so  much  superior  to 
the  old  seedling  varieties,  the  demand  for  trees  stimu- 
lated the  growing  of  citrus  nursery  stock,  which  up  to 
that  time  had  been  mostly  supplied  by  Florida  nurs- 
erymen. Later  many  of  the  bearing  seedling  orchards 
were  budded  over  to  Navels,  some  of  these  seedling 
trees  being  25  or  30  years  of  age.  The  demand  for 
budwood  taxed  the  young  Navel  orchards  to  the  limit 
with  the  result  that  budwood  was  often  taken  from 
the  Australian  Navels,  either  through  ignorance  or 
indifference  on  the  part  of  the  person  gathering  buds. 
In  this  way  the  earlier  orchards  planted  became  badly 
mixed,  which  necessitated  re-budding  or  top  working 
over  a  good  many  trees,  hence  the  nurserymen  soon 


of  an  inferior  quality,  which  lead  to  the  conclusion 
that  possibly  some  buds  were  from  sucker  wood  or 
water  sprouts  and  that  this  caused  the  trees  to  be  of 
inferior  quality  from  the  parent  tree,  for  it  was  noted 
that  these  suckers  or  water  sprouts,  if  allowed  to  ma- 
ture in  the  tree,  would  always  produce  a  rough,  in- 
ferior fruit  the  first  year  or  two  they  bore,  although 
it  usually  improved  as  the  growth  advanced  and  be- 
came less  vigorous. 

This  was  no  doubt  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  for  it 
was  noticed  that  the  nurseryman,  who  was  careful  in 
the  selection  of  buds,  had  less  complaint  about  bad 
trees,  although  none  escaped  completely.  No  one  at 
that  time  attributed  the  trouble  to  anything  but  care- 
less selection  of  bud  wood,  either  from  sucker  wood 
or  trees  of  the  Australian  type,  hence  the  nurseryman 
who  personally  selected  his  budwood  from  trees 


10 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


known  to  be  all  right  usually  felt  perfectly  safe  in 
taking  budwood  later,  either  from  young  orchards 
planted  from  his  former  selection  or  even  from  stock 
in  the  nursery  row. 

As  time  went  on  and  citrus  fruits  attained  larger 
prominence  commercially  it  was  seen  that  the  yield 
was  not  what  it  should  be.  Growers  found  that 
there  was  always  a  certain  percentage  of  trees  that 
failed  to  produce  a  normal  crop,  or  that  produced 
rough  inferior  fruit,  thus  cutting  down  their  average 
on  the  whole  orchard  both  in  quantity  and  quality. 
For  a  number  of  years  this  condition  was  attributed 
to  either  poor  nursery  stock,  improper  irrigation,  cul- 
tivation or  fertilization ;  but  after  a  more  careful  in- 
vestigation it  was  learned  that  there  were  certain 
trees  in  nearly  every  orchard  that  produced  heavy 
crops  of  good  quality  fruit  year  after  year,  while 
others  always  bore  light  crops  and  still  others  that 
produced  fruit  of  an  inferior  quality.  Through  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  causes  for  this  condition  was 
made  which  showed  that  not  only  the  Washington 
Navels,  but  all  varieties  of  citrus  fruits  sported  "off 
types"  of  inferior  quality  fruit  and  that  often  trees 
producing  perfect  fruit  might  have  one  limb  or 
branch  that  produced  either  a  poor  quality  of  fruit  or 
very  little.  This  condition  would  continue  year  after 
year  so  that  bud  wood  taken  from  that  particular 
branch  would  produce  fruit  of  like  quality  and  quan- 
tity. Often  these  sport  branches  varied  in  growth  and 
foliage.  Whatever  the  variation,  whether  in  fruit  or 
foliage,  buds  taken  from  such  wood  are  likely  to  pro- 
duce trees  of  likely  quality.  This  bud  variation  is 
particularly  noticeable  in  Washington  Navels  and 
Valencia  Late  oranges  and  Eureka  lemons,  although 
it  no  doubt  exists  to  a  certain  extent  in  all  varieties 
of  citrus  fruit.  Mr.  A.  D.  Shamel,  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  in  charge  of  fruit  improvement 
investigations  since  1909,  says:  "It  may  manifest  it- 
self in  the  habit  of  growth  of  the  trees  or  their  method 
of  branching,  the  size,  form,  texture  or  the  color  of 
the  foliage,  or  the  form,  color,  texture,  abundance,  or 
scarcity  of  the  fruit.  Occasionally  one  tree  grown 
from  a  single  bud  will  develop  several  distinct  strains 
of  fruit.  Frequently  a  single  fruit  or  a  branch  bear- 
ing several  fruits  will  be  found  on  a  tree  having 
characteristics  distinct  from  the  fiuit  of  the  typical 
strain  borne  by  the  tree  as  a  whole.  Minor  varia- 
tions on  fruit  characteristics  are  very  frequent  oc- 
currences." 

From  the  knowlege  thus  gained  in  these  investiga- 
tions it  is  easy  to  see  why  nurserymen  were  continual- 
ly receiving  complaints  about  shy  bearing  trees  and 
off  types  of  fruit.  To  the  casual  observer  it  might 
appear  strange  that  the  deterioration  was  not  greater, 
but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  not  all  variations 
are  downward  or  to  inferior  types.  The  investigations 
have  not  recorded  the  variations  which  showed  im- 
provement over  the  parent  type  and  possibly  it  is  not 
as  great  as  the  downward.  In  all  these  investigations 
the  idea  has  been  to  eliminate  the  poorer  strains  and 


show  best  how  to  avoid  future  deteriorations,  hence 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  nurserymen  to  select  and  propa- 
gate from  those  variations  that  give  promise  of  being 
improvements  over  original  types.  The  Thomson 
Improved,  Golden  Nugget  and  Buckeye  Navels  and 


Original  Washington  Navel  tree  in  Riverside 

Navelencia  are  all  sports  or  variations  from  the 
Washington  Navel  that  gave  promise  of  being  im- 
proved in  some  particular  over  the  original  type.  So 
in  all  varieties  of  citrus  fruit,  the  perfect  strains  of 
today  show  a  decided  improvement  over  the  original 
due  to  the  nurseryman's  effort  to  produce  better  and 
more  perfect  types  of  fruit,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  in  the  past  they  have  been  working  more  or  less 
in  the  dark  with  reference  to  these  bud  variations. 
In  recent  years  it  has  been  the  practice  to  select  buds 
from  those  orchards  that  produced  good  crops  of  fruit 
as  a  whole  and  where  there  were  no  trees  of  the  off 
or  so-called  Australian  type ;  or,  if  there  were  any,,  to 
so  mark  them,  so  as  to  escape  their  use  for  purposes 
of  propagation.  In  this  way  it  was  considered  quite 
safe  to  take  bud  wood  from  such  orchards  even 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


11 


One  Million  seed  bed  stock  grown   in   the    open    nine    months   from    planting. 


though  it  was  at  the  season  of  the  year  when  there 
was  no  fruit  on  the  trees. 

From  these  facts  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  hazardous 
to  cut  budwood  from  any  tree  without  fruit  to  show 
the  type  and  quality,  and  it  is  much  more  desirable, 
in  fact  it  is  the  practice  of  the  leading  nurserymen, 
to  select  buds  from  trees  or  orchards  having  a  per- 
formance record  covering  a  period  of  from  two  to 
four  or  more  years  showing  the  trees  to  be  consistent 
and  regular  bearers.  In  this  way  bud  variation  is 
overcome  and  the  risk  of  planters  getting  trees  that 
may  prove  untrue  to  type  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

In  keeping  performance  records  the  orchard  trees 
are  each  numbered,  usually  by  the  use  of  three  sets 
of  figures.  The  orchard  is  first  divided  into  blocks 
of  five  or  ten  acres  in  each  block,  and  numbered  block 
one,  two,  three,  etc.  The  rows  are  then  numbered 
usually  commencing  at  the  irrigation  head,  for  ex- 
ample, the  eighth  tree  in  the  fourth  row  of  block  one 
would  be  numbered  1-4-8. 

The  fruit  from  each  tree  is  picked  and  placed  in 
separate  boxes  and  a  record  made  of  the  number  of 
full  boxes  and  an  estimate  of  the  partly  filled  boxes, 
or,  if  it  is  desired  to  be  more  exact,  there  are  methods 
provided  for  weighing  the  fruit  from  each  tree.  By 


following  this  method  for  two  or  more  years  and 
comparing  the  production  for  each  year,  it  can  easily 
be  determined  which  trees  are  profitable  and  those 
that  are  not.  The  latter  trees  should  be  worked 
over  by  top  budding  from  budwood  selected  from  the 
profitable  producing  trees. 

BUDS  FROM  RECORD  TREES 

Buds  selected  from  trees  having  a  good  perform- 
ance record  if  taken  when  the  fruit  is  still  on  the 
tree  (so  as  to  avoid  getting  wood  from  any  sporting 
limbs  that  might  be  present)  will  produce  trees  show- 
ing little,  if  any,  variation  from  the  parent  tree.  The 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  bud  selection  was  recog- 
nized by  the  California  Fruit  Growers'  Exchange, 
and  a  bud  selection  department  was  established  under 
the  management  of  the  Fruit  Growers'  Supply  Com- 
pany, a  subsidiary  corporation,  to  carry  on  the  work 
of  selecting  and  selling  bud  wood  from  trees  bearing 
good  types  of  fruit  and  having  a  high  performance 
record.  These  records  are  kept  as  elsewhere  de- 
scribed, and  the  work  is  under  the  supervision  of  com- 
petent Exchange  men  so  as  to  insure  accuracy.  The 
buds  are  also  cut  by  experienced  men,  care  being  ex- 
ercised to  see  that  only  fruiting  wood  is  taken  from 


12 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


the  best  trees.  The  buds  from  each  tree  are  kept 
separate  and  given  the  number  of  the  parent  tree 
and  they  are  delivered  to  the  purchaser  under  that 
number.  We  keep  all  of  these  numbers  separate  in 
our  nurseries  and  in  delivering  trees  to  our  customers 
they  come  under  the  same  tree  numbers,  so  that  if  a 
purchaser  gets  trees  marked  "Tree  No.  3002,"  he  can 
go  to  the  Fruit  Growers'  Supply  Company's  records 
and  ascertain  just  what  the  parent  tree  record  of 
production  was. 


do  not  suffer  either  from  lack  of  water  or  cultivation. 
Trees  that  have  been  stunted  for  water  usually  show 
a  lack  of  fibre  roots,  a  condition  that  is  not  desirable 
in  young  stock  and  one  that  tends  to  make  them  much 
harder  to  start  when  transplanted.  We  take  up  our 
trees  either  balled  or  open  roots,  according  to  the 
wishes  of  our  customers.  Before  starting  to  dig  we 
cut  back  the  tops  to  within  about  six  or  eight  inches 
of  the  trunk.  Too  much  foliage  cannot  be  left  or  it 
will  cause  a  greater  evaporation  than  the  roots  can 


A   block  of  one  hundred  thousand   one-year-old  budded  citrus  trees. 


TRAINING  THE  YOUNG  BUDS 

All  of  our  trees  are  firmly  staked  as  soon  as  the 
buds  begin  to  grow  and  before  the  new  growth  has 
hardened,  so  that  they  can  be  tied  up  perfectly 
straight.  The  training  of  the  young  buds  is  given 
very  close  attention  so  as  to  insure  straight  stock. 
Every  few  days  men  go  over  the  nursery  taking  off 
any  suckers  or  sprouts  that  may  appear  and  tying  up 
such  new  growth  as  has  been  made  since  the  preced- 
ing trip.  When  the  trees  have  reached  a  heighth  of 
thirty  or  more  inches  and  the  wood  is  well  rounded 
out,  they  are  topped  at  a  uniform  height  of  thirty 
inches  and  allowed  to  form  a  head.  This  tends  to 
make  the  tree  fill  out  and  get  more  stocky,  enabling 
it  to  withstand  the  wind  much  better.  A  low-headed 
tree  also  has  the  advantage  of  shading  its  own  trunk 
from  the  sun's  rays  while  it  is  young  and  tender  and 
susceptible  to  sunburn.. 

During  all  the  time  our  trees  are  growing  in  the 
nursery  row  we  take  particular  pains  to  see  that  they 


stand.  In  balling  extreme  care  is  used  in  cutting  out 
the  ball  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  root  system  contained 
therein.  As  soon  as  the  ball  is  cut  out  it  is  placed  in 
a  burlap  sack  and  firmly  tied  so  that  in  handling  the 
soil  will  not  be  shattered.  As  soon  as  this  is  done 
they  are  placed  in  the  shade  or  taken  to  the  lath  house 
where  they  are  wet  down  and  heeled  in  wet  shavings 
until  wanted  by  the  planter.  We  advise  our  cus- 
tomers to  let  us  hold  balled  stock  in  the  lath  house 
for  a  few  days  after  balling  in  order  to  give  it  a 
chance  to  recover  from  the  shock  of  digging.  This 
also  gives  the  roots  a  chance  to  heel  over  and  the 
tree  is  in  condition  to  start  right  off  growing  as  soon 
as  set  out  in  the  orchard.  This  is  especially  advisable 
in  late  summer  planting. 

In  taking  up  open  root  trees,  it  is  necessary  to  use 
even  more  precaution  than  with  balled  ones.  The 
soil  is  well  irrigated  before  hand,  so  that  all  the  fibre 
roots  possible  may  be  saved.  By  careful  trenching  on 
one  side  and  cutting  the  tap  root,  then  forcing  the 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


13 


spade  down  on  the  opposite  side,  the  tree  is  pried  loose 
and  the  earth  is  shaken  off  the  roots.  As  they  are 
taken  out  the  roots  are  covered  with  a  wet  cloth  or 
burlap  to  protect  them  from  the  sun,  and  placed  at  the 
end  of  the  rows  where  they  are  loaded  in  wagons 
for  delivery  to  local  customers,  or  taken  to  the  pack- 
ing house  to  be  packed  in  moss  and  boxes  for  ship- 
ment. The  roots  on  trees  taken  up  in  this  manner 
are  dipped  in  a  mixture  of  earth  and  water  of  about 
the  consistency  of  paint  before  they  are  packed  in 
boxes  or  delivered  to  customers.  This  will  cling  to 
the  roots  and  thoroughly  protect  them  from  wind  and 


location   where   the   danger   of   damaging   frosts  is 
slight. 

Citrus  trees,  especially  lemons,  should  not  be  plant- 
ed where  the  winter  temperature  reaches  a  minimum 
of  26  degrees  or  lower.  Trees  after  reaching  the  age 
of  four  to  six  years  will  stand  a  temperature  consid- 
erably lower  than  this  without  serious  injury,  but  a 
temperature  of  26  degrees  for  four  hours  or  more 
will  damage  the  fruit  to  the  extent  of  reducing  the 
owner's  income  to  a  point  where  it  is  not  profitable 
to  grow  citrus  fruits,  and  land  in  such  localities  had 
better  be  used  for  the  more  hardy  fruits. 


Standard  commercial  sizes  of  citrus  nursery  trees. 
Left  to  righl,  2  year  buds  caliper  ;    1  —  1  inch  and  up  ;  2  —  %  to  1  inch;  3—  ^  to  %.    1  year  buds:  4  — 


and  up  ;  5  —  ^  to  ^  ;  6  —  %  to  12. 


sun.  We  use  the  best  sphagnum  moss  obtainable  for 
packing  and  trees  properly  packed  with  it  will  keep 
in  perfect  condition  for  several  months;  in  fact,  we 
have  had  stock  in  transit  for  three  months  and  it 
reached  its  destination  in  fine  shape,  and  our  cus- 
tomers advise  us  that  it  all  grew,  hence  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  assure  those  at  a  distance  that  we  can  pack 
trees  in  this  manner  so  that  they  will  reach  them  in 
a  satisfactory  condition. 

SELECTING  GOOD  CITRUS  LAND 

Too  much  stress  cannot  be  placed  on  the  im- 
portance of  selecting  a  suitable  location  for  the  or- 
chard. While  citrus  trees  will  grow  under  a  variety 
of  conditions,  it  does  not  by  any  means  hold  that  they 
will  bear  profitable  crops  under  all  of  them.  Thou- 
sands of  dollars  have  been  lost  to  planters  by  trying 
to  grow  orchards  where  soil  and  weather  conditions 
were  not  favorable.  To  gain  maximum  results  a 
deep,  well  drained,  soil  should  be  selected  and  in  a 


The  formation  of  the  state  is  such  that  variations  of 
climate  occur  quite  frequently  within  short  distances, 
and  likewise,  there  are  changes  in  character  of  soils 
so  pronounced  that  it  quite  often  happens  that  cer- 
tain lands  in  a  locality  may  be  well  adapted  for  citrus 
culture,  while  just  a  short  distance  away  the  soil  or 
climatic  conditions  may  not  be  desirable  for  their 
growth;  hence,  in  choosing  a  location,  be  sure  that 
these  two  essentials  are  right.  It  is  far  better  to  pay 
a  thousand  dollars  an  acre  for  desirable  land  than  to 
undertake  to  raise  an  orchard  on  poor  land  even  if 
given  to  you. 

Water  is  the  all  important  factor.  It  should  not 
only  be  plentiful  but  the  cost  should  be  low  enough 
to  prevent  the  planter  from  having  to  stint  his  trees 
in  order  to  make  both  ends  meet.  The  most  desirable 
lands  being  on  the  hill  slopes  or  in  protected  valleys 
along  the  foothills,  it  follows  that  water  for  irriga- 
tion purposes  is  more  expensive  than  for  general 
farming,  and  usually  less  plentiful,  and  people  look- 


14 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


ing  for  land  for  citrus  planting  should  make  sure  that 
the  water  supply  is  sufficient  for  a  mature  orchard. 
As  trees  reach  the  bearing  age  they  gradually  require 
more  water  in  order  to  support  a  crop. 

Along  the  coast  where  the  climate  is  tempered  by 
the  ocean  breezes  and  occasional  fogs  it  is  estimated 
that  an  inch  of  water,  continuous  flow,  is  sufficient 
to  properly  irrigate  seven  or  eight  acres  of  orchard. 
This  is  assuming  that  the  supply  can  be  accumulated 
and  taken  at  thirty  or  forty-day  intervals;  in  other 
words,  a  party  having  forty  acres  of  land  with  a 
water  right  of  one  inch  to  eight  acres  would  be  en- 


local   conditions  and   ideal   lands   are   to   be  had   in 
some  localities  where  water  is  abundant  and  cheap. 

PREPARING  THE  LAND  FOR  ORCHARD 

Having  selected  the  location,  the  next  important 
problem  is  preparing  for  the  new  orchard.  This  is 
a  matter  that  too  many  orchardists  do  not  realize 
the  importance  of  until  later  years  when  it  is  too  late 
to  correct  their  errors.  By  all  means  have  the  land 
in  perfect  condition  both  as  to  tilth  and  grade  before 
starting  to  plant  a  tree.  Better  postpone  planting 


Lath    house    containing    ten    thousand   balled   trees  ready  for  shipment. 


titled  to  five  inches  continuous  flow,  or  one  hundred 
and  fifty  inches  for  twenty-four  hours,  if  taken  every 
thirty  days ;  but  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  inches  is 
usually  more  than  can  be  handled  to  advantage  on 
forty  acres,  fifty  inches  could  be  run  for  seventy-two 
hours,  or  twenty-five  inches  for  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  hours. 

In  the  interior  valleys  where  the  temperature  is 
higher  and  the  humidity  less  it  requires  an  inch  of 
water  to  every  three  or  four  acres  of  orchard.  The 
annual  cost  of  water  for  a  mature  grove  varies  with 
local  conditions,  from  $5.00  per  acre  in  localities 
where  water  is  more  easily  obtained,  to  as  high  as 
$40.00  per  acres,  where  it  has  to  .be  lifted  an  exces- 
sive height  or  carried  in  a  long  expensive  ditch  or 
pipe  system.  However,  we  do  not  consider  this  too 
expensive,  provided  all  other  conditions  are  ideal. 

We  would  much  prefer  to  pay  $40.00  per  acre  for 
water  on  good  rich  land  where  heavy  crops  are  as- 
sured and  the  danger  of  killing  frosts  is  eliminated 
than  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  a  crop  every  few  years 
on  lands  where  the  water  was  less  expensive.  We  do 
not  mean  by  this  that  all  good  citrus  lands  are  ex- 
pensive to  irrigate  or  that  cheap  water  indicates  poor 
land.  As  stated  above,  water  costs  are  regulated  by 


two  or  three  months,  or  even  a  year,   rather  than 
make  the  mistake  of  planting  too  soon. 

If  the  land  is  uneven  or  rolling,  engage  a  com- 
petent engineer  to  run  levels,  set  grade  stakes  and 
locate  the  necessary  pipe  lines  for  irrigating.  This 
will  expedite  the  work  of  grading  so  that  no  unnec- 
essary dirt  will  have  to  be  moved,  and  when  finished 
should  lay  so  that  every  tree  can  be  properly  irrigat- 
ed. On  land  nearly  level  it  is  often  times  advisable 
to  plow  furrows  and  run  the  water  before  starting 
to  plant  to  be  assured  the  grade  is  perfect.  On  lands 
where  heavy  fills  are  necessary  this  method  is  essen- 
tial to  insure  against  the  uneven  settling  of  unpacked 
soil  in  these  places,  as  it  often  happens  that  regrading 
is  necessary  to  fill  up  these  depressions. 

Being  satisfied  that  the  grading  is  complete,  have 
the  entire  acreage  plowed  to  a  depth  of  eight  or  ten 
inches  and  thoroughly  pulverized.  A  heavy  drag  or 
clod-smasher  run  over  the  ground  will  smooth  it 
down  and  facilitate  the  staking  process.  It  is  usually 
best  for  those  inexperienced  in  this  work  to  engage  a 
practical  tree  planter  to  lay  off  their  ground  and  plant 
out  the  orchard.  This  insures  straight  rows  and 
properly  planted  trees. 

There  are  several  different  methods  of  planting, 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Gal. 


Ten  Acre  Valencia  orchard,  13  years  planted  to  Teague  trees,  averaging  5661S  packed  boxes  per  annum  for  11  years. 


and  we  herewith  illustrate  the  four  systems  used. 
The  Square  and  Hexagonal,  or  Septuple,  systems  are 
the  two  most  commonly  used.  In  our  opinion  the 
Square  method  is  the  best,  however,  the  latter  can  be 
used  to  advantage  in  some  plantings. 

The  Square  method  gives  more  room  for  working 
among  the  trees,  which  is  especially  desirable  after 
the  trees  reach  maturity.  At  the  age  of  six  years  the 
feeding  roots  of  citrus  trees  planted  twenty  feet  apart 
will  occupy  the  entire  space  between  the  rows  so  that 
as  far  as  space  is  concerned,  there  is  no  waste  ground 
in  planting  by  this  method.  It  is  a  mistaken  idea  to 
plant  trees  too  close,  and  in  planting  by  the  Hexa- 
gonal system  we  would  advise  its  use  as  a  means  of 
giving  the  trees  more  room  rather  than  to  get  more 
trees  on  the  ground.  If  it  is  desired  to  get  ninety 
trees  per  acre  on  the  ground,  which  figures  twenty- 
two  feet  apart  each  way  by  the  Square  method,  it 
might  be  advisable  to  plant  Hexagonal,  which  would 
make  the  distance  twenty-three  feet  and  six  inches 
between  trees,  thus  giving  each  tree  an  extra  foot  and 
a  half  more  space. 


Square  System.  The  rows  are  laid  off  equal  dist- 
ances apart  and  the  trees  planted  the  same  distance 
in  the  row,  four  trees  forming  a  square.  In  laying 
out  ground  by  this  system  parallel  base  lines  are  run 
on  two  sides  of  the  tract.  These  lines  must  be  per- 
fectly straight  and  the  same  distance  apart,  the  dist- 
ance being  governed  by  the  size  of  the  tract  and  the 
space  left  between  the  trees.  For  example,  in  plant- 
ing trees  twenty  feet  apart  on  a  ten-acre  tract,  which 
is  usually  660  feet  square,  the  first  base  line  would 
be  laid  off  on  one  side  of  the  tract  and  ten  feet  in 
from  the  property  line,  allowing  this  ten  feet  for  a 
margin  or  turning  row;  the  other  base  line  would 
be  run  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  tract  and  the  same 
distance  in  from  the  property  line.  This  would  make 
the  two  base  lines  640  feet  apart  or  just  32  twenty- 
foot  space. 

A  660-foot  wire  with  buttons  or  cloth  securely 
fastened  every  twenty  feet,  beginning  ten  feet  from 
the  end,  is  used  for  laying  out  both  the  base  lines  and 
the  rows.  When  properly  stretched  along  the  first 
base  line,  stakes  are  set  at  each  button  to  mark  where 


16 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


the  rows  will  come,  the  first  stake  being  ten  feet  in 
from  property  line.  The  second  base  line  is  run  and 
staked  in  the  same  manner,  taking  care  that  they  are 
the  same  distance  apart  at  all  points.  This  can  be 
done  by  stretching  the  wire  from  each  end  of  the  first 
base  line,  and  at  right  angles  to  it,  being  careful  that 
the  first  button  is  held  exactly  at  the  stake  on  the 
base  line  each  time.  The  button  on  the  opposite  end 
of  the  chain  will  be  the  line  for  the  second  base  line. 
Mark  these  two  points  and  then  run  the  second  base 
line.  With  these  two  base  lines  run  and  marked,  the 
line  is  then  used  to  mark  off  the  rows,  starting  at 


advantage  in  working  between  the  trees  the  narrow 
way.  The  number  of  trees  to  the  acre  is  the  same  as 
by  the  Square  method. 

Quincunx  System.  The  ground  is  laid  out  as  in 
the  Square  system  and  another  stake  set  in  the  center 
of  each  square  making  a  double  set  orchard.  This 
method  is  only  practiced  where  it  is  desired  to  have 
two  sets  of  trees  on  the  same  ground  with  the  idea  of 
taking  out  one  or  the  other  when  they  begin  to  crowd. 

Hexagonal  or  Septuple  System.  In  this  system  six 
trees  form  a  hexagon  and  enclose  a  seventh.  Three 


u...  ......  u  ........  _i-  .. 


U- U 


U 


.U. 


.u 


% 

4 


R.M.T. 


Square  system 

either  side  at  the  first  row  and  stretching  the  line  so 
that  the  last  button  on  each  end  is  at  the  base  line 
stake  on  that  end.  Make  the  line  fast  and  proceed  to 
set  stakes  at  each  of  the  buttons  between  the  base 
lines,  then  move  to  the  next  stake  and  proceed  across 
the  tract.  If  care  has  been  used  in  getting  the  line 
straight  each  time  and  the  end  buttons  to  the  base 
line  stakes  the  rows  will  line  perfectly  in  all  direc- 
tions. 

Triangular  or  Alternate  System.  Ground  is  staked 
as  in  Square  method,  except  that  a  second  line  of 
stakes  is  required  one  way  half  way  between  the  rows 
and  every  alternate  tree  is  planted  in  this  row.  The 
only  advantage  of  this  system  is  that  it  gives  the  trees 
a  little  more  room ;  this  is,  however,  offset  by  the  dis- 


••u. 


—-{r !r l^-- 


~ 


..'j« ; 


4 


%= 


4. 


Triangular  or  alternate  system 

trees  form  an  equilateral  triangle.  In  laying  out  the 
ground  for  this  method  of  planting  the  simplest  ar- 
rangement to  use  is  an  equilateral  triangle  form  made 
of  1x3  inch  material  the  length  it  is  desired  to  set  the 
trees  apart.  Then  run  two  base  lines  similar  to  the 
Square  method,  excepting  that  they  should  be  at  right 
angles  to  each  other.  This  will  give  a  straight  row 
across  one  side  and  one  end  of  the  tract.  Only  one 
line  is  staked,  the  other  being  simply  a  guiding  line  to 
keep  the  rows  straight  with  the  property.  In  staking 
the  one  base  line,  first  determine  the  distance  in  from 
the  property  line  it  is  desired  to  plant  the  first  row 
each  way,  the  base  line  being  the  first  row  on  one  side 
and  the  right  angle  guide  line  being  the  first  row  the 
other  way,  then  set  the  first  stake  one  half  the  dis- 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cat. 


17 


tance  it  is  desired  to  plant  the  trees  from  the  junction 
of  these  two  lines.  If  planting  twenty  feet  apart  this 
first  stake  should  be  ten  feet  from  the  junction,  and 
if  twenty-two  feet  apart  set  the  stake  eleven  feet  in. 
After  this  line  is  staked  use  the  triangle  form  above 
mentioned,  setting  one  point  at  the  first  stake,  the 
second  point  on  the  guide  line,  and  the  third  point 
will  indicate  the  third  row  of  trees.  Set  stakes  at  the 
second  and  third  points.  With  these  points  estab- 
lished the  triangle  can  be  worked  either  way.  If 
working  down  the  guide  line  simply  turn  the  form 


u 


--  »    .   .  .  -  1 

~_  .  j 

-\ 

-  _.( 

(f,.. 

t' 

"**W 

'•••.i- 

\u 

xl-" 

v'--u 

\ 

,  ...  \ 

_'*:.s 

^ 

\ 

'. 

H- 

*"-i» 

sv 

^-U 

V-.L- 

\ 

!\ 

*v 

H 

*H 

if-  :- 
NJc 

Quincunx  system 

over,  being  careful  to  keep  points  two  and  three  at 
the  stakes,  point  one  will  then  be  facing  in  the  op- 
posite direction,  set  stake  at  number  one  and  turn 
form  again  with  point  two  on  the  guide  line  and  set 
stakes  at  point  two  and  then  follow  this  process  across 
the  field,  thus  staking  three  rows  by  using  rows 
two  and  three  for  guide  lines  the  operators  can  work 
back  to  the  base  line,  but  only  one  row  can  be  staked 
as  points  one  and  two  of  the  form  will  have  to  be 
placed  at  the  stakes  on  rows  two  and  three,  but  two 
rows  can  be  staked  from  the  base  line  each  time. 
Three  men  will  be  required  to  operate  this  plan  of 
staking,  and  if  care  is  used  the  trees  should  line  per- 
fectly, provided  of  course  the  land  is  on  a  uniform 
grade. 

If  uneven  or  rolling  land  is  to  be  staked  off  a  line 


similar  to  that  described  under  the  Square  system  can 
be  used,  but  there  will  have  to  be  two  sets  of  end 
buttons,  as  it  will  be  seen  from  the  illustration  that 
the  rows  alternate,  also  the  two  parallel  base  lines 
would  have  to  be  double  staked. 

After  the  ground  is  staked  off  in  the  manner  de- 
scribed each  stake  will  indicate  the  point  at  which  a 
tree  will  be  set.  In  order  to  preserve  this  location 
while  digging  the  holes  a  planting  board  is  used  and 
the  ground  is  double  staked.  For  the  purpose  of 
making  its  use  more  clearly  understood  we  give  an 
illustration  of  the  planting  board. 


It  1  I  I 


u 


u 


R.n-T 


Hexagonal  or  septuple  system 

Use  a  piece  of   1x4  pine,  4   feet   in  length,  cut 
notches  A  and  B  one  inch  square  in  each  end  as  illus- 


trated. In  the  exact  center  cut  notch  C  1^  inches 
square,  or  larger  if  the  diameter  of  the  trees  to  be 
planted  require  it.  In  double  staking  place  notch  C 
over  the  tree  stake  each  time,  being  careful  that  the 
stake  comes  in  the  center  of  the  notch.  With  the 
board  firmly  held  in  this  position  drive  stakes  in 
notches  A  and  B,  remove  the  board  and  pull  up  the 
tree  stake  at  C,  and  dig  the  hole.  In  planting  the 
tree  replace  the  board  in  same  position  holding  the 


18 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


trunk  of  the  tree  in  notch  C  until  the  soil  is  filled  in 
around  it. 

In  digging  the  holes  be  careful  not  to  disturb  the 
two  stakes  set  with  the  planting  board  or  it  will  be 
impossible  to  get  the  tree  accurately  set.  The  holes 
should  be  dug  18  to  20  inches  in  diameter  and  about 
the  same  depth.  Open  root  trees  require  a  somewhat 
larger  hole  than  balls.  It  is  not  advisable  to  dig  the 
hole  much  deeper  than  necessary  to  hold  the  ball  or 
roots,  as  there  is  danger  of  the  tree  settling  if  too 
deep,  and  it  is  never  best  to  have  them  any  deeper 


seemingly  give  the  trees  a  little  too  much  room  rather 
than  too  little.  Unlike  planting  ordinary  farm  crops 
where  a  mistake  can  be  rectified  the  following  year,  a 
citrus  orchard  is  planted  but  once  in  a  lifetime.  Re- 
member that  sunlight  and  air  are  essential  elements 
in  the  production  of  all  fruits  and  if  trees  are  so 
crowded  that  their  branches  touch,  very  little  fruit 
can  be  expected  excepting  in  their  tops  where  the 
required  light  and  air  is  available.  The  lower  limbs 
and  sides  of  the  tree  where  the  bulk  of  the  fruit 
should  be  produced  remain  barren. 


A  six-year-old  Marsh  Seedless  pomelo  grove  planted  to  Teague  trees  yielding  5  to  6  boxes  per  tree. 


than  they  stood  in  the  nursery.  If  holes  are  too  deep 
fill  up  to  the  required  depth  and  pack  firmly.  When 
it  is  necessary  to  dig  deeper  holes  or  blast  in  order  to 
break  up  hard  pan  or  heavy  clay  sub-soil,  water 
should  be  run  before  planting  so  as  to  thoroughly 
settle  the  earth  before  planting  the  tree.  The  fol- 
lowing table  will  show  the  number  of  trees  to  the 
acre  by  the  Square,  Quincunx,  and  Hexagonal,  or 
Septuple  system : 

Hexagonal 
Distance   Apart  Square         or  Septuple     Quincunx 

10   feet    436  500  831 

12   feet    303  347  571 

14   feet    222  255  415 

16  feet    170  195  313 

18   feet   134  154  247 

20   feet    108  126  199 

22   feet    90  103  173 

24   feet    76  96  137 

30   feet    48  56  83 

Note. — In  giving  the  distances  of  trees  of  the  quincunx, 
the  fifth  or  central  tree  is  not  taken  into  account. 

In  determining  the  proper  distance  to  plant  citrus 
trees  their  habits  and  growth  should  be  considered, 
always  keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  it  is  better  to 


Our  recommendation  for  planting  the  different  va- 
rieties would  be  for  WashJngton  Navels  and  other 
varieties  of  similar  growth,  22  feet  apart  by  the 
Square  or  24  feet  by  the  Hexagonal  method.  The 
Washington  Navel  is  not  usually  a  rapid  growing 
tree  excepting  when  planted  on  light  alluvial  soils, 
and  in  such  locations  we  would  advise  planting  a 
little  further  apart. 

Valencia  Lates  should  be  planted  at  least  24  feet 
apart  on  the  Square  or  26  feet  on  the  Hexagonal 
method.  They  are  vigorous  growing  trees,  and  to 
secure  the  best  results  when  they  reach  maturity  they 
should  have  plenty  of  room. 

Lemon  trees  are  fully  as  vigorous  as  Valencias,  but 
due  to  the  necessity  of  constant  pruning  they  do  not 
usually  make  quite  as  tall  a  tree;  however,  the  pro- 
duction is  heavier,  and  the  pruning  having  a  ten- 
dency to  cause  the  branches  to  spread  out  they  should 
be  given  fully  as  much  room  as  the  Valencia. .  The 
necessity  for  almost  constant  work  in  cultivating,  irri- 
gating, picking,  hauling  and  pruning  make  it  essential 
that  ample  room  be  allowed. 

Pomelos  should  be  planted  the  same  distance  apart 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


19 


Eureka  lemon  orchard  planted  to  Teague  trees  producing  $8.50  per  tree  gross  for  seven  years. 


as  Valencias  or  lemons.  They  are  vigorous  growing 
trees  and  require  plenty  of  room  if  maximum  results 
are  to  be  expected.  If  crowded  the  fruit  will  be 
small  and  inferior. 

Satsumas,  Mexican  Limes,  Kumquats  and  other 
slow  growing  varieties  may  be  planted  as  close  as  16 
feet  apart. 

SELECTING  GOOD  TREES 

By  all  means  plant  good  trees.  The  first  cost  of  a 
tree  is  a  small  item  compared  with  the  expense  of 
bringing  it  to  maturity.  The  cost  of  nursing  along 
an  inferior  tree  to  the  age  of  maturity  is  vastly  more 
than  that  of  bringing  a  thrifty  vigorous  growing  tree 
to  the  same  age.  Poor  trees  rarely  make  a  first  class 
orchard,  while  good  trees  properly  cared  for  seldom 
fail.  Patronize  a  reliable  nurseryman  whose  reputa- 
tion for  supplying  good  stock  is  unquestioned  and 
whose  experience  in  citrus  culture  will  enable  him  to 
give  valuable  advice  and  instructions  in  planting  and 
caring  for  orchards.  Should  mistakes  occur,  or  for 


any  reason  the  trees  fail  to  grow  satisfactorily,  a  re- 
sponsible nurseryman  can  be  depended  on  to  make 
good  any  errors  or  omissions  on  his  part.  Trees  se- 
cured from  reliable  sources  usually  give  satisfaction 
and  cause  for  complaint  is  rare. 

Whether  to  plant  balled  or  open  root  trees  de- 
pends largely  on  the  season  of  the  year  the  planting 
is  done  and  nature  of  soil  in  which  trees  are  to  be 
planted.  For  late  summer  planting,  or  where  the 
soil  is  inclined  to  be  heavy,  we  advise  the  use  of 
balled  trees.  These  are  taken  out  of  the  nursery 
with  40  to  75  pounds  of  earth  on  the  roots  (depend- 
ing on  size  of  tree)  and  sacked  and  tied  so  that  the 
root  system  contained  in  the  ball  is  not  disturbed, 
and  if  handled  with  reasonable  care  and  properly 
watered  when  planted  the  trees  rarely  ever  wilt. 

Trees  handled  in  this  way  can  be  transplanted  at 
almost  any  time  of  year  with  satisfactory  results. 
Open  root  trees  require  more  careful  handling,  but 
if  planted  early  before  the  weather  gets  too  warm 
and  on  light  or  sandy  soil  good  results  will  be  at- 


20 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


tained.  In  taking  up  trees  in  this  manner  all  the 
soil  is  taken  off  the  roots,  care  being  used  to  prevent 
their  being  exposed  to  wind  or  sun  while  being  pre- 
pared for  packing.  Damp  moss  is  used  for  packing, 
and  when  properly  packed  trees  handled  in  this  man- 
ner will  keep  in  perfect  condition  for  two  or  three 
months.  We  make  shipment  of  trees  packed  in  this 
manner  to  Mexico,  South  America,  South  Africa, 
China  and  Japan,  and  they  always  arrive  in  good 
condition. 

PLANTING  BALLED  TREES 

First  of  all  handle  them  carefully.  The  purpose 
of  balling  is  to  get  an  undisturbed  root  system.  By 
rough  handling  the  roots  are  jarred  loose  or  broken 
off  in  the  ball  and  the  benefit  of  balling  is  lost. 
Better  plant  a  properly  handled  open  root  tree  than 
a  roughly  handled  balled  one.  Never  carry  a  balled 
tree  by  the  trunk  or  top,  always  lift  it  by  the  ball, 
either  by  placing  the  hands  under  the  bottom  or  by- 
grasping  the  sack  at  the  base  of  the  trunk.  We  try 
to  see  that  trees  are  handled  in  this  manner  at  the 
nursery,  and  if  planters  will  see  that  their  employees 
are  just  as  careful  there  will  be  less  cause  for  com- 
plaint. 

Having  received  the  trees  at  the  place  of  planting, 
see  that  they  are  not  unduly  exposed  during  the 
planting.  Only  such  trees  as  are  to  be  immediately 
planted  should  be  distributed  in  the  field.  The  re- 
mainder should  be  kept  in  the  shade  and  sprinkled  if 
necessary  to  prevent  the  balls  from  drying  out.  We 
have  seen  trees  set  in  the  field  for  a  day  or  two  before 
being  planted  and  all  grow,  but  it  is  a  dangerous 
practice,  especially  if  the  weather  is  warm  or  windy, 
and  the  trees  receiving  this  additional  shock  cannot 
be  expected  to  do  as  well  as  those  properly  handled. 

In  setting  the  tree. try  and  get  it  as  near  the  same 
depth  as  it  stood  in  the  nursery.  Usually  the  top  of 
the  ball  should  be  about  one  inch  below  the  level  of 
the  ground,  this  allows  for  about  that  much  loose 
soil  that  is  taken  off  in  balling  the  trees.  As  trees 
usually  settle  some  after  the  water  is  applied,  it  is 
best  to  set  them  just  a  little  shallow  rather  than  too 
deep.  Having  gotten  the  tree  in  the  hole,  see  that 
the  trunk  and  top  are  perpendicular  before  filling  in 
the  soil.  It  is  customary  for  one  man  to  hold  the 
tree  in  place  while  one  or  two  others  fill  up  the  hole. 
It  is  advisable  to  use  good  top  soil  for  this  rather 
than  that  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  hole. 

When  the  hole  is  about  two-thirds  filled,  cut  the 
string  at  the  top  and  turn  down  the  sack,  then  finish 
filling  the  hole.  This  allows  the  sack  to  quickly  rot 
and  prevents  the  possibility  of  afterwards  hooking  on 
to  the  sack  with  hoe  or  cultivator  and  disturbing  the 
tree.  Do  not  pack  the  soil  by  hand  or  foot  as  it  is 
being  placed  around  the  ball.  Firm  it  just  sufficient 
to  hold  the  tree  in  place.  The  water  will  settle  it 
much  better  and  more  thoroughly  if  left  in  this  way. 


Water  should  be  run  as  soon  as  possible  after 
planting.  While  balled  trees  will  stand  some  time 
without  watering,  it  is  best  to  settle  the  soil  around 
the  ball  within  a  few  hours  after  planting,  especially 
if  the  weather  is  warm.  After  watering  and  before 
the  soil  is  thoroughly  set,  go  over  the  orchard  and 
straighten  up  any  trees  that  may  have  settled  out  of 
line.  After  straightening  up  the  tree  fill  in  with  dry 
soil  and  hoe  as  soon  as  dry  enough  to  prevent  crack- 
ing or  drying  out  around  the  tree.  Water  thoroughly 
again  in  ten  days  or  two  weeks,  after  which  time  the 
trees  should  not  require  irrigation  for  from  three 
weeks  to  thirty  days,  depending  on  weather  condi- 
tions. In  planting  in  the  interior  valleys  during  the 
summer  months  it  is  advisable  to  irrigate  every  ten 
days  for  at  least  six  weeks  after  planting. 

PLANTING  OPEN  ROOT  TREES 

As  stated  elsewhere,  it  is  necessary  to  use  much 
more  care  in  handling  open  root  trees,  as  it  is  abso- 
lutely essential  that  the  roots  never  be  allowed  to  dry 
out.  When  planting  trees  dug  in  this  way  never 
take  but  one  tree  at  a  time  out  of  the  box  or  package 
in  which  they  are  received,  then  immediately  plant  it 
using  moist  soil  to  fill  in  the  hole.  Never  use  hot  dry 
dirt  or  disaster  will  follow. 

The  man  holding  the  tree  in  place  should  spread 
out  the  lateral  roots  as  the  hole  is  filled  up  so  that 
they  will  be  as  near  in  their  natural  position  as  pos- 
sible. If  planted  in  warm  weather,  water  should  be 
immediately  applied.  The  best  results  can  be  ob- 
tained by  using  a  tank  wagon  for  watering  the  first 
time,  and  if  the  soil  is  inclined  to  be  dry  fill  the  hole 
with  water  before  filling  in  the  earth,  or  as  it  is  being 
filled  in.  This  will  completely  saturate  and  settle  the 
soil  around  the  roots.  If  it  is  not  practical  to  use  a 
tank  wagon,  or  if  irrigation  water  is  available,  have 
the  water  running  down  the  rows  as  the  trees  are 
being  set,  and  never  plant  more  than  one  or  two  trees 
ahead  of  the  water. 

In  using  this  method,  it  is  best  to  double  stake  the 
ground  so  that  a  furrow  can  be  run  between  the 
stakes  before  the  holes  are  dug.  This  will  facilitate 
getting  the  water  to  the  trees  more  quickly.  Water 
should  be  again  applied  as  in  planting  balled  trees, 
excepting  that  the  ground  around  the  trees  must  be 
more  closely  watched  than  with  balled  stock,  and  if 
it  shows  any  sign  of  drying  out  or  cracking  apply  the 
second  irrigation  more  quickly. 

CARE  OF  THE  ORCHARD 

The  success  of  all  agricultural  and  horticultural 
pursuits  depends  largely  on  the  care  and  attention 
given  them,  and  in  none  is  this  more  pronounced  than 
in  citrus  culture.  Citrus  trees  will  survive  under 
most  trying  conditions  of  neglect  and  abuse,  but  to 
attain  any  degree  of  success  in  the  production  of 
profitable  crops,  one  must  give  them  good  care,  which 
means  proper  irrigation,  sufficient  cultivation  and 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


21 


enough  fertilization  to  keep  them  well  supplied  with 
plant  food.  The  latter  applies  more  particularly  to 
bearing  trees. 

The  most  of  our  California  soils  contain  sufficient 
plant  food  so  that  fertilization  is  not  absolutely  nec- 
essary for  the  first  two  or  three  years,  but  a  little 
fertilizer  applied  each  year  after  the  trees  are  planted 
will  tend  to  keep  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  often 
times  adds  to  the  vigor  of  the  tree. 


allowed  to  go  just  a  little  short  of  water,  it  will  tend 
to  send  its  feeding  roots  deeper  where  the  moisture 
is  more  uniform  and  thus  enable  it  to  better  with- 
stand the  summer  heat.  One  can  go  to  extremes  both 
ways  in  the  matter  of  irrigation,  either  of  which  is 
dangerous  to  the  future  welfare  of  the  orchard,  but 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  whenever  the  trees  show  the 
least  signs  of  wilting  they  should  be  irrigated. 

The  method  of  irrigation  most  generally  used  is 


Irrigating  a  hillside  citrus  fruit   orchard  by  contour  furrowing. 


It  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rule 
as  to  the  proper  amount,  time  and  manner  of  apply- 
ing water  in  the  irrigation  of  citrus  orchards.  These 
matters  depend  largely  on  the  nature  of  the  soil  and 
climatic  condition  of  the  locality  where  the  planting 
is  done.  After  the  trees  are  established  it  is  not 
usually  necessary  to  irrigate  oftener  than  once  in 
every  thirty  days  or  six  weeks,  excepting  on  very 
light  sandy  soils  where  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to 
irrigate  every  three  or  four  weeks,  especially  during 
the  warmest  part  of  the  summer.  In  our  opinion  it 
is  more  dangerous  to  irrigate  young  trees  too  much 
rather  than  too  little.  The  over  irrigation  tends  to 
bring  the  fibre  roots  close  to  the  surface  where  the 
least  warm  weather  and  drying  out  of  the  surface 
soil  will  cause  the  tree  to  wilt,  whereas  if  the  tree  is 


known  as  the  furrow  system.  In  young  trees  one 
furrow  is  made  on  each  side  of  the  row  eight  to  six- 
teen inches  from  the  tree,  and  the  water  is  run  until 
the  soil  is  well  saturated  up  to  the  tree.  On  newly 
planted  stock,  it  is  sometimes  advisable  to  hoe  the 
soil  away  and  allow  the  water  to  come  even  closer 
than  this  in  order  to  be  assured  that  the  moisture 
will  reach  every  part  of  the  root  system,  but  in  no 
case  should  the  soil  be  hoed  away  so  as  to  allow  the 
water  to  stand  around  the  trunk  of  the  tree.  As  the 
trees  get  older  the  furrows  are  run  further  away 
from  the  trees  and  in  soils  where  the  moisture  does 
not  spread  rapidly,  it  is  advisable  to  run  cross  fur- 
rows on  each  side  of  the  trees  and  run  the  water  into 
these  from  the  main  ones.  After  the  second  year, 
two  furrows  should  be  run  on  each  side  of  the  trees 


22 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


and  later,  as  the  feeding  roots  reach  the  center  of  the 
space  between  the  rows,  the  entire  space  should  be 
furrowed  out  and  irrigated.  Care  should  be  exer- 
cised at  all  times  to  see  that  the  water  is  run  a  suffi- 
cient length  of  time  to  thoroughly  wet  the  sub-soil, 
thus  enabling  the  root  system  to  stay  well  below  the 
surface.  In  light  sandy  soils,  the  water  will  sub- 
irrigate  sufficiently  while  running  through  the  rows, 
or  at  least  within  30  minutes  to  one  hour  after  reach- 
ing the  ends,  but  in  the  heavier  soils  it  requires  a 
much  smaller  stream  to  each  row  and  the  time  re- 
quired to  thoroughly  wet  the  sub-soil  varies  from  one 
half  day  to  as  much  as  three  or  four  days,  the  latter 
time  only  being  required  on  the  very  heaviest  clay 
soils  where  there  is  a  considerable  slope  to  the  land. 

What  is  known  as  the  basin  system  is  used  on 
very  light  level  lands.  This  method  should  never  be 
applied  only  where  the  soil  is  sufficiently  porous,  so 
that  the  water  will  not  stand  in  the  basins  but  a  few- 
minutes  after  they  are  filled.  In  this  system,  ridges 
Are  run  both  ways,  dividing  the  land  off  into  blocks 
or  squares,  usually  one  tree  to  a  square,  and  a  ditch 
or  furrow  is  made  between  the  rows  to  convey  the 
water  to  the  squares.  As  each  square  is  filled  the 
water  is  shut  off  and  carried  to  the  next,  usually  be- 
ginning at  the  lower  end  of  the  orchard  and  working 
up  to  the  head.  We  do  not  recommend  this  system 
excepting  where  the  soil  is  so  loose  and  level  that  the 
furrow  system  is  impracticable. 

Citrus  trees  do  not  usually  require  irrigation  dur- 
ing the  winter  months.  The  rainfall  generally  is 
sufficient  for  their  winter  requirements.  However, 
it  sometimes  happens  that  through  lack  of  rain  they 
require  a  light  irrigation  or  two  during  the  winter 
or  spring.  Three  to  five  irrigations  during  the  sum- 
mer months  are  the  average  requirements  necessary 
to  keep  a  mature  orchard  in  proper  condition. 

The  proper  cultivation  of  the  orchard  is  equally  as 
important  as  the  irrigation  and  the  full  value  of  the 
irrigation  cannot  be  conserved  if  the  cultivation  is 
delayed  or  improperly  done.  The  requirements  of 
the  different  soils  vary  as  to  time  and  manner  of 
cultivation.  A  light  sandy  soil  can  be  worked  in 
about  24  hours  after  the  water  is  shut  off,  while  the 
heavier  clay  soils  should  be  allowed  to  dry  from  two 
to  five  days,  depending  on  the  weather  before  culti- 
vating. On  soils  of  this  nature  it  is  advisable  to  fill 
in  the  furrows  with  a  harrow  just  as  soon  as  the 
surface  shows  signs  of  baking  or  crusting  over.  By 
doing  this  the  cultivation  can  be  delayed  for  two  or 
three  days  or  until  the  soil  below  is  sufficiently  dried 
so  that  it  will  not  stick  together  or  turn  up  in  solid 
masses.  Avoid  cultivating  heavy  soil  when  it  is  too 
wet,  as  it  not  only  dries  out  much  faster,  but  makes 
it  more  difficult  to  work  in  the  future. 

The  main  idea  in  cultivation  is  to  pulverize  the 
surface  soil,  so  as  to  form  a  mulch  fine  enough  to 
prevent  the  sub-soil  from  drying  out.  If  left  loose 
and  cloddy  much  of  the  good  is  lost  and  irrigation 
will  be  necessary  again  in  a  much  shorter  time.  It  is 


customary  to  cultivate  the  ground  from  two  to  eight 
times  after  each  irrigation,  going  in  a  different  direc- 
tion each  time,  so  as  to  thoroughly  pulverize  it  on 
all  sides  of  the  trees.  Each  cultivation  should  be  a 
little  deeper  than  the  preceding  one  so  that  when  the 
work  is  completed  there  will  be  a  mulch  of  fine  soil 
from  4  to  6  inches  deep.  By  starting  shallow  and 
going  a  little  deeper  each  time  it  tends  to  pulverize 
the  soil  better  and  in  heavy  land  prevents  it  from 
breaking  up  in  large  clods.  These  cultivations  should 
not  follow  each  other  closely,  but  at  intervals  of 
from  two  to  four  days  after  each  two  cultivations. 

During  the  winter  months,  if  it  is  desired  to  keep 
the  orchard  clean,  the  ground  should  be  cultivated 
after  each  rain  and  at  this  time  of  year  it  is  not  as 
necessary  to  pulverize  the  soil ;  in  fact  it  is  better  to 
leave  it  a  little  rough  so  that  the  rains  will  have  a 
chance  to  soak  in. 

The  practice  of  sowing  winter  cover  crops  or  of 
leaving  the  natural  vegetation  grow  during  the  win- 
ter months,  is  being  quite  extensively  followed  now, 
and  as  most  of  our  California  soils  are  deficient  in 
humus,  it  gives  quite  satisfactory  results,  where  prop- 
erly handled  in  the  spring.  In  following  this  plan  it 
is  always  advisable  to  leave  the  orchard  furrowed  out 
for  irrigation  so  that  in  case  of  a  shortage  of  rain 
during  the  winter  or  spring,  an  irrigation  can  be 
given  the  trees  whenever  necessary.  The  cover  crop 
should  be  turned  under  with  a  plow  as  early  in  the 
spring  as  possible.  It  is  not  advisable  to  plow  or  cul- 
tivate very  deep  just  before  or  during  blooming  time, 
and  if  the  cover  crop  cannot  be  plowed  in  before 
this,  it  is  better  to  wait  until  after  the  fruit  is  set  and 
then  work  it  up  with  a  disc,  but  in  this  case  it  will 
be  necessary  to  keep  the  ground  well  watered  so  that 
the  trees  will  not  suffer  during  the  blooming  period, 
as  at  this  time  the  energy  of  the  tree  is  taxed  to  the 
limit,  and  the  root  system  needs  all  the  help  possible 
to  support  the  top  in  its  effort  to  set  a  crop. 

FERTILIZATION 

The  many  different  soil  conditions  in  California 
makes  it  impossible  to  lay  down  any  set  rules  for  this 
most  important  factor,  but  it  is  a  matter  that  should 
have  the  attention  of  the  planter  before  the  orchard 
begins  to  show  that  it  is  in  the  need  of  plant  food. 
It  is  much  more  difficult  and  costly  to  bring  an  or- 
chard back  into  condition,  once  it  has  suffered  from 
the  lack  of  fertilizer,  than  it  is  to  keep  it  thrifty  by 
adding  plant  food  as  the  available  supply  is  being 
consumed. 

The  three  chemicals  necessary  in  the  soil  to  sus- 
tain plant  life  are  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and 
potash.  All  our  soils  contain  these  ingredients,  but 
not  always  in  available  forms  or  sufficient  quantities 
to  grow  trees  successfully,  and  never  is  the  supply 
great  enough  to  last  indefinitely,  hence  sooner  or 
later  the  artificial  appliaction  of  plant  food  must  be 
resorted  to. 

It  is  best  to  start  in  while  the  trees  are  young  and 


R,  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


23 


A  citrus  tree  budded  to  tiventy-tivo  different  varieties. 


fertilize  enough  to  keep  the  fertility  of  the  soil  from 
becoming  exhausted.  This  can  be  done  by  growing 
cover  crops  of  legumes,  or  supplying  barn-yard  man- 
ures or  commercial  fertilizers.  The  legumes  most 
generally  used  are  peas,  vetch,  fenuegreek  and  the 
clovers,  the  bitter  clover  (Melilotus  Indica)  being 
the  most  popular  on  account  of  its  rank  growth.  As 
all  legumes  gather  nitrogen  from  the  air  and  store  it 
in  the  stalk  and  roots  of  the  plant,  they  are  much 
more  desirable  as  a  cover  crop  than  any  other  form  of 
vegetation.  The  amount  of  nitrogen  derived  from  a 
good  cover  crop  together  with  its  value  in  adding 
humus  to  the  soil  makes  it  one  of  the  cheapest  ways 
of  fertilizing.  The  value  of  a  cover  crop  depends 
largely  on  the  amount  of  growth  it  makes  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  turned  under  in  the  spring. 
A  large  part  of  the  value  of  any  cover  crop,  manure 
or  fertilizer  is  lost  if  it  is  left  on  top  of  the  ground. 
It  must  be  placed  where  the  feeding  roots  of  the  tree 


can  reach  it.  It  must  be  remembered  that  a  certain 
amount  of  plant  food  is  taken  out  of  the  ground  by 
the  cover  crop  and  unless  it  is  all  turned  under  so 
that  the  tree  can  get  the  full  benefit  of  it,  the  plant 
food  returned  to  the  soil  may  not  exceed  that  con- 
sumed. 

Barnyard  manure  is  considered  the  best  for  citrus 
trees  and  careful  experiments  made  with  it  show 
more  satisfactory  results  than  with  any  other  method 
of  fertilizing.  Unfortunately  the  supply  is  so  limited 
that  it  is  not  always  possible  to  get  a  sufficient 
amount  to  properly  fertilize  any  considerable  acreage. 
On  bearing  trees  10  to  15  tons  to  the  acre  should  be 
applied  every  other  year. 

Bean  straw  and  alfalfa  are  also  valuable  fertilizers, 
but  can  only  be  used  when  a  surplus  of  feed  brings 
the  price  within  reach  of  the  orchardist  for  fertilizing 
purposes. 

In  using  manure,  much  better  results  are  obtained 


24 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


by  plowing  very  deep  furrows  on  each  side  of  the 
trees  and  placing  the  manure  therein,  then  fill  in  the 
furrows  and  allow  it  to  decay.  This  makes  it  avail- 
able as  a  plant  food  much  more  quickly  than  by  the 
old  method  of  broad-casting  it  on  the  surface  and 
plowing  or  discing  it  in. 

There  are  a  number  of  good  commercial  fertilizers 
put  out  by  the  different  firms  engaged  in  that  busi- 
ness, and  the  use  of  these  gives  very  satisfactory  re- 
sults, especially  where  used  in  connection  with  either 
cover  crops  or  manure.  On  young  trees,  three  to  five 
pounds  per  tree  is  used  and  as  the  orchard  reaches 
full  bearing  age,  from  1,000  to  2,500  pounds  per  acre 
is  applied.  Commercial  fertilizer  should  be  drilled 
in  to  a  depth  of  from  4  to  6  inches  to  get  best  results. 
In  sowing  it  on  the  surface  and  attempting  to  cul- 
tivate it  in,  as  much  as  25  or  50%  is  lost  by  wind  and 
sun  before  it  can  be  worked  down  to  where  it  is  avail- 
able to  the  tree. 

The  most  successful  orchardists  are  those  who  use 
plenty  of  fertilizers  and  apply  them  properly.  The 
application  of  fertilizer  in  insufficient  quantities  or  by 
improper  methods  is  money  thrown  away.  It  has 
been  said  that  for  every  dollar's  worth  of  fertilizer 
properly  applied,  the  orchardist  may  reasonably  ex- 
pect ten  dollars  in  return.  This  may  be  putting  it  a 
little  strong,  but  we  do  know  that  it  pays  to  fertilize. 

PRUNING  THE  ORANGE 

Orange  trees  require  very  little  pruning  to  keep 
them  in  proper  shape  as  their  natural  inclination  is  to 
form  a  uniform  and  well  balanced  head.  During  the 
first  three  or  four  years  the  only  pruning  necessary  is 
to  cut  out  interfering  branches,  sucker  growth,  and 
shorten  in  such  limbs  as  may  have  a  tendency  to 
throw  the  tree  out  of  balance.  In  pruning,  always 
use  sharp  tools  and  avoid  making  rough,  uneven  cuts. 
For  light  pruning  use  hand  shears  having  the  blade 
ground  as  thin  as  is  safe,  to  avoid  breaking.  This 
will  enable  the  operator  to  do  good  clean  work  with 
little  or  no  bruising  or  splitting  of  the  limbs.  For 
the  heavier  work  the  long  handled  shears  can  be 
used,  but  we  much  prefer  using  a  good  pruning  saw 
wherever  the  limbs  are  too  large  to  be  easily  cut  with 
the  hand  shears.  In  shortening  in  limbs,  always  aim 
to  cut  to  a  joint  and  where  a  limb  is  to  be  taken  out 
entirely,  be  sure  to  cut  close  and  avoid  leaving  a 
stump  to  sucker  and  sap  the  vitality  of  the  tree.  On 
all  cuts  such  as  it  might  be  necessary  to  make  with  a 
saw,  it  is  advisable  to  use  some  kind  of  paint  or  wax 
to  keep  out  the  moisture  and  prevent  decay.  What- 
ever is  used  for  this  purpose,  it  should  be  of  such  con- 
sistency that  it  will  completely  seal  up  the  cut,  or  it 
may  as  well  not  be  used.  k 

As  the  trees  develop,  all  dead  limbs  should  be  cut 
out  together  with  such  sucker  growth  as  may  appear 
and  any  other  limbs  that  may  clog  the  center  or  in- 
side of  the  tree.  The  main  idea  being  to  have  the 
center  comparatively  open  and  the  outside  fairly  com- 
pact. By  following  this  method,  the  bearing  surface 
of  the  tree  is  doubled  and  at  the  same  time  the  accu- 


mulation of  dead  wood  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Dead  wood  is  due  to  an  overcrowded  condition 
of  the  branches  and  if  this  is  corrected,  it  lessens 
the  amount  of  dead  wood.  Above  all  things  never 
clip  or  shear  orange  trees  like  a  hedge  plant,  as  this 
tends  to  produce  a  thick  mass  of  short  branches  that 
will  make  the  top  so  dense  that  the  necessary  sunlight 
and  air  cannot  properly  penetrate  it.  To  the  eye,  a 
tree  should  present  a  compact  mass  of  foliage  but  it 
should  not  be  dense.  If  it  is  necessary  to  prune  off 
limbs  from  the  outside,  cut  them  back  to  where  they 
branch,  preferably  cutting  to  a  branch  having  an  up- 
ward tendency.  All  citrus  trees  are  headed  low  and 
as  the  limbs  on  budded  varieties  have  a  tendency  to 
droop,  it  is  customary  to  allow  the  branches  to  hang 
down,  the  idea  being  to  prune  off  just  enough  to  pre- 
vent the  fruit  from  brushing  on  the  ground. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  prune  orange  trees  oftener 
than  once  a  year,  although  it  adds  to  their  vigor  if  all 
suckers  or  water  sprouts  are  kept  off,  as  they  appear, 
or  at  least  if  they  are  taken  off  once  between  prun- 
ings.  The  customary  time  for  pruning  bearing  or- 
chards is  in  the  spring  just  after  the  crop  is  picked. 

PRUNING  THE  LEMON 

Lemon  trees  require  much  more  vigorous  pruning 
than  the  orange  and  to  get  satisfactory  results  this 
:wprk  should  commence  the  first  year  after  planting. 
The  tendency  is  for  the  limbs  to  grow  long  and  ir- 
regular and  if  allowed  to  go  unrestricted  the  tree  will 
present  a  mass  of  long  whip  like  branches,  the  fruit 
being  more  or  less  on  the  ends  of  these  where  it  is 
easily  whipped  off  or  scarred  and  bruised  by  the 
winds.  Lemons  are  also  more  inclined  to  send  out 
suckers  and  water  sprouts,  and  these  must  be  kept 
pruned  out.  By  starting  while  the  tree  is  young  and 
keeping  the  heavy  growth  checked,  the  tendency  will 
be  to  develop  more  fruit  wood  and  as  the  tree  begins 
to  devote  more  of  its  energy  toward  the  production  of 
fruit,  it  will  be  less  inclined  to  make  the  vigorous 
rampant  growth  noted  in  the  younger  stock.  It 
therefore  follows  that  care  must  be  exercised  to  cut 
out  as  little  of  this  fruiting  wood  as  possible  and  to 
this  end  the  operator  must  learn  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  two.  Sucker  wood  can  readily  be  distin- 
guished by  its  rank  and  sappy  growth ;  the  pith  or 
soft  tissue  in  the  center  of  the  limb  is  also  much 
larger  than  in  the  fruit  wood. 

The  limbs  designed  to  make  up  the  frame-work  of 
the  top  should  be  well  distributed  so  as  to  form  a 
well  shaped  head  and  shortened  back  from  time  to 
time,  so  as  to  give  them  strength  to  carry  the  fruit 
of  later  years.  The  tops  should  be  left  somewhat 
more  open  than  on  oranges,  and  where  clumps  of 
growth  come  out  from  the  ends  of  limbs  shortened 
back,  they  should  be  thinned  out  and  only  those  left 
that  are  necessary  to  shape  up  the  top. 

The  vigorous  growth  of  lemon  trees  makes  it  nec- 
essary to  prune  them  two  or  three  times  a  year  es- 
pecially while  they  are  young.  This  makes  each' 
pruning  less  severe  than  would  be  necessary  if  it  were 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  CaL 


left  to  be  done  only  once  a  year,  and  the  result  to 
the  tree  is  much  more  satisfactory.  Lemon  trees  are 
headed  at  about  the  same  height  as  orange  trees  and 
the  same  general  rule  as  to  allowing  the  branches  to 
reach  the  ground  applies.  These  lower  limbs  protect 


the  trunk  of  the  tree  from  the  sun  and  also  shade  the 
ground  around  the  tree.  Having  the  trees  headed 
low  is  also  an  advantage  when  it  comes  to  gathering 
the  fruit,  as  much  of  it  can  be  gathered  without  the 
use  of  a  step  ladder. 


STANDARD  VARIETIES  OF  ORANGES 


WASHINGTON   NAVEL 

Fruit.  The  Washington  Navel  stands  at  the  head  of 
California  oranges.  Fruit  large  to  very  large;  peel  inva- 
riably smooth  and  thick,  rendering  it  of  good  productive 
quality;  color  a  pronounced  orange  yellow;  fruit  marked 
at  the  blossom  end  with  a  small  but  irregular  and  secon- 
dary orange,  from  which  it  takes  the  name  of  "Navel" ; 
fruit  seedless  and  free  from  "rag";  flesh  crisp  and  sweet, 
with  abundant  juice  possessing  a  flavor  peculiarly  its 
own;  shipping  qualities  of  the  best,  "standing  up"  under 
long-distance  shipments  and  yet  maintaining  its  fine  eating 
values. 


less;  shipping  quality  of  the  very  best.  The  Valencia  Late 
is  the  best  summer  shipping  orange  known  to  commerce, 
and  coming  into  market  at  a  season  of  the  year  when  all 
other  varieties  have  been  disposed  of,  is  essentially  in  a 
class  by  itself  and  exempt  from  competition. 


Washington  Navel  orange 

Tree.  Of  a  rather  moderate  growth  with  small  or  no 
thorns  and  somewhat  umbrageous  in  character  with  full 
rounded  top;  foliage  a  dark  glossy  green  liberally  fur- 
nished; in  California  a  strong  and  regular  bearer,  often 
producing  fruit  the  second  year  in  orchard  from  the  nurs- 
ery rows. 

History.  This  fruit  was  introduced  into  the  United 
States  in  1870  by  the  Federal  Department  of  Agriculture 
under  the  name  of  the  Bahia  orange.  Of  the  trees  propa- 
gated by  the  Department  two  were  sent  to  Mrs.  L.  C. 
Tibbets  of  Riverside  in  1873;  an  event  that  can  truthfully 
be  said  to  constitute  the  founding  of  the  orange  industry 
in  California.  Originally  the  fruit  was  known  as  the 
Riverside  Navel,  but  as  it  became  known  in  other  locali- 
ties, the  name  was  changed  to  Washington  Navel,  in 
honor  of  the  Federal  Capitol  from  which  it  was  first  sent 
out.  The  original  two  trees  are  still  alive.  One  was 
transplanted  in  1913,  with  the  assistance  of  the  late  Colonel 
Roosevelt,  to  the  court  of  the  Riverside  Mission  Inn  Hotel; 
the  other  still  stands  at  the  head  of  Magnolia  avenue. 
Of  this  tree  we  show  an  illustration  on  another  page  of 
this  book. 

VALENCIA  LATE 

Fruit.  Owing  to  its  season,  which  extends  from  May  to 
November,  this  variety  is  second  only  to  the  Washington 
Navel  in  commercial  importance.  The  fruit  is  of  medium 
size,  slightly  oval;  color  a  good  orange  yellow;  peel  thin, 
smooth  and  of  good  protective  quality;  flesh  of  good  grain 
with  abundant  juice  of  fine  citrus  flavor;  practically  seed- 


Valencia  Late  orange 

Tree.  Splendid  form  and  of  vigorous  upright  growth, 
attaining  to  great  size  much  like  the  seedling  type  of  an 
earlier  period  of  the  citrus  industry;  almost  thornless; 
its  extensive  planting  can  be  commended  on  good  citrus 

lands  that  are  reasonably  free  from  late  biting  frosts. 

History.  This  fruit  is  a  synonym  of  Hart's  Late  and 
Hart's  Tardiff,  and  was  introduced  into  California  from 
Florida  in  the  early  seventies.  Among  our  earlier  expe- 
riences with  citrus  culture,  we  recall  an  orchard  planted 
to  Hart's  Tardiff  trees,  which  on  coming  into  bearing 
developed  a  number  of  trees  untrue  to  name.  These  we 
budded  to  Valencia  Lates,  which  on  coming  into  bearing, 
fruit  and  habit  of  trees  were  identical  with  the  Hart's 
Tardiff. 

THOMSON  IMPROVED  NAVEL 

Fruit.  The  Year  Book  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture for  1911  gives  the  following  description:  Form 
slightly  oblong;  size  above  medium  to  large;  cavity  small, 
surface  smooth ;  stem  slender ;  color  orange  yellow,  red- 
dening somewhat  after  picking;  peel  relatively  smooth, 
rather  closely  adherent,  usually  thin  and  rather  tender; 
segments  10  to  12,  irregular  in  size  with  open  center; 
flesh,  rich  yellow  to  deep  orange  in  color,  translucent, 
moderately  tender;  not  very  abundant;  seedless;  flavor 
sweet,  sprightly,  pleasant;  quality  good,  but  not  equal  to 
the  Washington  Navel,  but  it  reaches  full  maturity  about 
one  month  earlier  than  that  variety. 

Continued  on  page  28 


THE  TWO  GREAT  FAVORITES 

The  two  fruits  that  stand  out  supreme  in  Cal  ifornia  citrus  culture  are  the  Washington  Navel 
orange  and  the  Eureka  lemon.  The  former  finds  its  greatest  development  under  California  conditions 
while  the  latter  not  only  luxuriates  with  us  but  originated  in  this  State.  Both  are  an  ornament  to 
horticulture  and  fruits  of  great  economic  value,  which  have  added  much  to  the  horticultural  wealth 
of  the  State.  The  tendency  of  these  varieties  to  "sport"  has  caused  a  wide  variation  in  the  productive- 
ness of  the  trees  and  the  quality  of  the  fruit,  due  to  so  called  "off  types."  Bud  selection  gives  promise 
of  corecting  this  tendency  so  that  both  varieties  will  not  only  be  more  prolific  but  the  quality  of  the 
fruit  will  be  better  and  more  uniform.  For  the  Teague  Nurseries  have  grown  trees  of  the  best 
types  of  both  varieties  which  at  the  present  time  are  being  grown  from  selected  buds  from  only  record 
bearing  trees,  thus  assuring  the  planter  trees  that  will  be  uniform  bearers  of  high  quality  fruit. 


LEADERS  IN  THEIR  CLASS 

Two  fruits  of  later  introduction  than  the  Washington  Navel  are  the  Valencia  Late  orange  and 
Marsh  Seedless  pomelo.  Indeed  it  can  almost  be  said  that  these  combined  with  the  Washington 
Navel  orange  and  the  Eureka  lemon  constitute  the  four  pillars  supporting  the  California  citrus 
industry.  These  two  varieties  of  oranges  constitute  fully  70  percent  of  the  total  trees  in  orchard  form, 
while  Marsh  Seedless  pomelos  and  Eureka  lemons  are  easily  the  most  popular  in  their  respective 
classes.  The  Valencia  Late  orange  makes  the  supply  of  fresh  oranges  continuous  throughout  the  year. 
Its  good  keping  qualities  combined  with  its  excellent  flavor  places  it  in  the  front  rank  as  the  ideal 
summer  orange.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Marsh  Seedless  pomelo  as  the  fruit  will  stay  on  the 
tree  from  one  season  to  the  next  without  deterioration. 


28 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


Tree.  In  habit  and  appearance  very  much  like  the 
Washington  Navel ;  a  good  grower,  strong  foliage  and 
well  branched. 

History.  This  fruit  takes  its  name  from  that  of  the  man 
(Mr.  A.  C.  Thomson)  on  whose  grounds  it  was  first 
observed.  Its  origin  from  a  scientific  point  of  view  was 
a  matter  of  much  speculation  in  the  early  days  of  the  cit- 
rus industry  in  California;  but  of  late  years  it  is  quite 
generally  conceded  that  it  took  its  inception  as  a  bud 
sport  of  the  Washington  N'avel,  rather  than  through  any 
process  or  manipulation  of  bnds. 


MEDITERRANEAN   SWEET 

Fruit.  Medium  to  large;  shape  oval;  color  a  rich 
orange  yellow ;  peel  rather  heavy  and  of  good  protective 
quality;  flesh  of  good  grain  and  orange  yellow  in  color; 
flavor  sweet  and  aromatic;  a  good  shipping  variety;  sea- 
son between  Washington  Navel  and  Valencia,  usually 
from  April  to  July. 


Navelencia  orange 

NAVELENCIA 

Fruit.  In  appearance  much  like  the  Thomson  Navel, 
being  of  good  size  and  shape ;  peel  of  fine  grain  and 
rather  thin ;  flesh  melting  to  the  taste  and  reasonably  free 
from  "rag";  juice  abundant  and  of  good  flavor;  shipping 
qualities  up  to  standard.  Season,  January  to  June. 

Tree.  Of  an  unbrageous  habit  with  fine  symmetrical 
top;  possesses  small  thorns;  foliage  dark  green  and 
glossy;  an  early  and  good  bearer,  often  yielding  fruit 
the  second  year  from  the  bud. 

History.  The  claim  that  it  is  a  cross  between  Thomson 
Navel  and  Valencia  Late  is  hardly  tenable;  it  probably 
is  a  variation  in  the  regular  Navel  type  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  give  it  specific  rank.  Not  extensively  culti- 
vated as  a  commercial  sort. 

PAPER  RIND  ST.  MICHAELS 

Fruit.  Rather  small,  round,  solid  and  heavy;  peel 
smooth,  thin  and  of  fine  texture ;  color  yellow  verging  to 
a  lemon  shade;  membranes  thin;  grain  of  fine  texture; 
juice  abundant;  flavor  sweet  and  sprightly;  good  shipping 
quality.  Season,  April  to  June. 

Tree.  Strong  and  upright  grower;  medium  thorny;  a 
good  bearer.  St.  Michael  trees  in  the  Azores,  in  sheltered 
situations,  have  been  known  to  bear  from  15,000  to  20,000 
fruits  in  a  single  year. 

History.  One  of  the  oldest  varieties  in  cultivation  in 
the  Mediterranean  countries  and  in  the  Azores,  where  it 
has  long  been  a  favorite.  First  planted  in  California  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  exploitation  and  development  of 
the  citrus  industry. 


Mediterranean  Sweet  orange 

Tree.  A  good  bearer  and  vigorous  grower  inclined  to 
a  spreading  habit  but  not  attaining  great  size;  practically 
thornless;  will  stand  a  slightly  colder  temperature  than 
some  of  the  other  sorts;  at  one  time  extensively  planted 
in  Southern  California,  but  of  late  years  planted  sparingly. 

History.  Of  European  extraction  and  first  introduced 
and  disseminated  in  California  by  A.  T.  Garey  in  the  late 
seventies  and  early  eighties. 

JOPPA 

Fruit.  Good  size  and  highly  colored  when  fully  ma- 
tured ;  has  a  smooth  thin  rind ;  flesh  sweet  and  full  of 
juice,  very  little  rag  and  nearly  seedless.  Ripens  in  April 
but  will  stay  on  the  tree  as  late  as  July. 

Tree.  Very  vigorous  and  an  upright  grower,  very 
much  resembling  the  Valencia  Late  and  quite  thornless. 

History.     Introduced  from  Joppa,   Palestine. 

HOMOSASSA 

Fruit.  Round,  medium  to  large  in  size.  Peel  smooth 
and  thin;  color  orange  yellow;  flesh  somewhat  coarse 
but  remarkably  free  from  rag;  flavor  sprightly  and  of  ex- 
cellent quality;  ripens  early  but  does  not  drop. 

Tree.  Of  medium  growth  but  of  somewhat  spreading 
habit;  quite  prolific. 

History.  A  Florida  seedling  originating  in  the  grove 
of  Hon.  Mr.  Yulee  at  Homosassa,  Florida. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Gal. 


29 


RUBY  BLOOD 

Fruit.  Of  medium  size  and  round  in  shape;  peel  thin 
and  inclined  to  be  tough;  pulp  melting,  juicy  and  of  a 
rich  acidulous  flavor;  flesh  a  ruby  red  as  the  fruit  fully 
matures,  showing  through  (he  peel,  giving  it  a  reddish" 
blush  on  the  outside;  a  fruit  of  prime  quality  in  its  class. 

Tree.  Nearly  thornless,  a  good  grower  and  prolific 
bearer;  habit  symmetrical  and  beautiful  ro  the  eye. 

History.  An  imported  variety,  undoubtedly  from  some 
of  the  Mediterranean  citrus  districts.  Introduced  into 
Florida  by  General  Sanford,  from  whence  it  undoubtedly 
found  its  way  to  California. 

MALTA  BLOOD 

Fruit.  Medium  size,  oval,  of  fine  texture  and  flavor. 
Pulp  streaked  and  mottled  with  a  blood  red  and  almost 
seedless.  Peei  has  a  reddish  blush  giving  it  an  attractive 
appearance.  Ripens  at  about  the  close  of  the  Navel  sea- 


Tree.  Inclined  to  be  of  a  dwarf  habit  with  a  peculiar 
character  of  growth  making  it  very  easy  to  distinguish 
from  other  varieties. 

History.  Introduced  into  California  from  Florida  and 
probably  brought  there  from  the  Mediterranean  districts. 


Ruby  Blood  orange 


NEW  AND  RARE  VARIETIES  OF  ORANGES 


LUE  GIM  GONG 

Fruit.  Good  commercial  size  of  the  Valencia  type, 
ripens  about  the  same  time  but  will  hang  on  the  tree  for 
two,  and  even  three  years,  and  still  maintain  its  color  and 
good  eating  qualities.  Color  a  deep  orange  red;  skin 
smooth,  flesh  deep  orange,  very  juicy  and  free  from  rag. 
The  flavor  is  a  rich  blending  of  sweet  and  sub-acid,  and 
when  fully  ripe  its  delicious  quality  is  unsurpassed.  Al- 
most seedless.  Its  keeping  qualities  are  such  that  it  will 
make  a  very  desirable  orange  for  shipping. 

Tree.  Very  vigorous  but  inclined  to  be  more  spreading 
than  the  Valencias.  A  heavy  and  regular  bearer;  said  to 
be  very  hardy  and  not  easily  damaged  by  cold. 

History.  A  hybrid,  propagated  by  a  Mr.  Lue  Gim 
Gong  of  De  Land,  Florida,  from  seed  secured  by  poliniza- 
tion  of  Hart's  Late  and  Mediterranean  Sweet. 


GOLDEN  NUGGET  NAVEL 

Fruit.  Medium  to  large,  solid  and  of  good  shape;  peel 
thin,  more  so  than  that  of  the  Washington  Navel,  of  fine 
texture,  surface  being  smooth  to  the  touch,  and  of  good 
color;  flesh  exceptionally  free  from  rag  and  seedless; 
flavor  of  the  best  with  abundant  juice;  a  good  shipper. 
Season  February  to  May. 

Tree.  Somewhat  individual  by  reason  of  its  excep- 
tionally dark  green  foliage,  abundant  lateral,  or  fruiting 
branches,  and  fine  symmetrical  appearance;  foliage  is 
more  lanceolate  than  that  of  the  Washington  Navel,  and 
in  color  a  shade  darker,  not  quite  so  broad  nor  appar- 
ently quite  so  thick  or  leathery;  wood  growth,  particularly 
the  younger  branches,  more  slender  and  willowy. 

History.  A  variation  or  "sport"  originated  in  our  or- 
chards some  years  ago,  which  appealed  so  strongly  as  to 
its  economic  importance  that  we  have  taken  buds  from  the 
parent  tree  and  perpetuated  the  strain  under  the  name 
of  "Golden  Nugget  Navel."  Possessing  real  merit,  it  is 
worthy  of  trial  culture. 


Golden   Nugget  Navel    orange 


GOLDEN  BUCKEYE  NAVEL 

Fruit.  The  feature  that  distinguishes  it  from  all  other 
varieties  of  Navel  is  a  series  of  ridges  of  a  deeper  orange 
color  on  the  peel,  which  is  smooth  and  of  a  kid  glove  tex- 
ture ;  flavor  strongly  aromatic,  with  a  suggestion  of  pine- 
apple; pulp  of  fine  texture  with  but  few  segments;  almost 
entirely  free  from  rag;  a  good  keeper  and  shipper;  its 
earliness  (January  to  May)  gives  it  commercial  rank;, 
medium  size. 

Tree.  A  good  grower;  thornless;  leaves  lanceolate, 
much  more  so  than  the  general  run  of  orange  trees,  and 


30 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


only  slightly  serrated  and  dark  green  in  color;  new  wood 
inclined  to  grow  slender  but  of  good  strength;  general 
habit  and  appearance  of  tree  strikingly  individual. 

History.  This  is  another  "sport"  discovered  in  our 
growing  orchards.  Owing  to  the  handsome  and  varie- 
gated exterior,  often  showing  a  narrow  ridge  of  Wash- 
ington Navel  peel,  combined  with  its  fine  eating  qualities, 
induced  us  to  propagate  it  and  give  it  place  in  our  pub- 
lished list  of  desirable  varieties. 

VANILLA  ORANGE 

Fruit.     Medium  size,  round ;   skin  smooth.     Flesh  quite 
juicy  and  with  a  distinct  vanilla  flavor  when  fully  ripe. 
Tree.     A  strong  upright  grower  and  quite  prolific. 
History.     Introduced  from  Florida. 

BITTER   SEVILLE 

Fruit.  Round,  medium  to  small,  quite  bitter.  Used  al- 
most exclusively  for  making  marmalades. 

Tree.     Fairly  vigorous  and  quite  prolific. 

History.     Probably    brought    originally    from    Spain 
Florida   and  later  introduced  into  California. 

SWEET  SEVILLE 

Fruit.  In  size  from  small  to  medium;  flavor  delight- 
fully sweet  and  pleasant;  peel  thin  and  smooth;  color  a 
strong  yellow.  Season  February  to  March. 

Tree.  A  good  grower,  prolific,  and  bears  when  quite 
young. 

History.     Another  introduction  from  Florida. 


Golden  Buckeye  Navel  orange 


ORNAMENTAL  VARIETIES  OF  ORANGES 


BOUQUET  DES  FLEURS 

Fruit.  Medium  size;  peel  like  that  of  a  King  orange; 
color  orange  yellow;  a  fine  marmalade  is  made  of  the 
fruit  by  slicing  as  a  whole;  also  the  Bergamot  oil  of 
commerce. 

Tree.  Distinct  in  appearance,  owing  to  the  peculiar 
shape  of  its  leaves,  which  are  round,  thick,  leathery,  com- 
pactly and  densely  furnished;  flowers  large  and  in  clus- 
ters ;  free  bloomer. 

History.  An  introduction  from  the  south  of  Europe ; 
worthy  of  recognition  on  account  of  its  oddity  as  well  as 
economic  values. 

GOLDEN  VARIEGATED 

Fruit.  In  general  characteristics  very  much  like  the 
Pomelo. 


Tree.  An  ornamental  acquisition  with  leaves  of  the 
same  shape  and  design  as  the  ordinary  orange  with  the 
exception  that  they  are  beautifully  marked  with  yellow 
configurations. 

History.  Brought  from  Europe  by  the  late  John  Rock, 
of  the  California  Nursery  Company,  and  by  it  dissemi- 
nated. 

VARIEGATED  NAVEL 

Fruit.  Similar  to  other  navels  excepting  that  the  peel 
is  marked  with  silver  configurations  the  same  as  the  fol- 
iage; quality  rather  inferior  to  other  navels. 

Tree.  Inclined  to  be  of  slow  growth  and  a  lighter 
green  foliage,  the  leaves  having  silver  markings  or  con- 
figurations. When  kept  properly  pruned  makes  a  yery 
ornamental  tree. 

History.  A  sport  or  bud  mutation  from  the  Washington 
Navel  and  propagated  for  its  ornamental  value. 


STANDARD  VARIETIES— KID  GLOVE  ORANGES 


DANCY  TANGERINE 

Fruit.  Of  medium  size ;  color  bright  shiny  orange  red ; 
peel  smooth,  thin  and  leathery,  being  easily  removed; 
flesh  dark  orange  color,  rather  coarse  grained;  juice  abun- 
dant and  somewhat  colored ;  flesh  melting  and  free  from 
"rag";  flavor  pungent  and  sprightly;  seeds  from  6  to  18. 
Season  February  to  May. 

Tree.  Strong  upright  grower,  resembling  in  habit  a 
seedling  orange;  when  bearing  heavily  has  a  slight  ten- 
dency to  spread  at  top,  which  can  be  avoided  by  proper 
pruning;  unlike  most  of  its  family,  has  a  broad  leaf, 
much  like  the  standard  oranges;  well  grown,  the  tree 
makes  a  handsome  appearance  with  its  intensely  colored 
fruits;  to  enhance  size  and  quality  of  fruit,  it  should  be 
thinned  out. 


History.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  Dancy  is  a  seed- 
ling from  China.  In  this  countrv^Ahe  variety  was  un- 
doubtedly disseminated  in  Florida^Bbm  whence  it  found 
its  way  to  California.  It  was  Mp'n  as  early  as  1843. 
Cuttings  of  trees  propagated  from  this  original  planting 
strongly  resemble  the  Dancy  as  we  know  it  today. 

KING  MANDARIN 

Fruit.  Very  large  and  flattened  with  loosely  adhering 
peel  and  segments ;  color  bright  orange  red ;  peel  rough 
but  of  good  appearance;  pulp  melting  and  free  from  rag; 
flavor  peculiarly  aromatic  and  agreeable;  seeds  15  to  20 
in  number;  general  qualities  of  the  very  best.  Season 
June  to  August. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


Tree.     Rather  rigid  and  upright  in  growth;   foliage   a 
rich  dark  green  color;  generally  quite  thorny. 

History.     Introduced  into  California  from  Cochin  China 
in  1882  by  Dr.  R.  Magee  of  Riverside. 

x  JW 


Spray  o/  Dancy   Tangerine  oranges 


-    WILLOW  LEAVED  MANDARIN 

Fruit.  Medium  size,  flattened ;  deep  yellow ;  skin  thin  ; 
segments  loosely  adherent;  flesh  dark  orange-yellow,  spicy 
and  aromatic.  Highly  esteemed  for.  eating  out  of  hand 
because  peel  separates  readily  from  the  pulp;  rated  as 
one  of  the  best  of  the  kid  glove  type. 

Tree.  A  compact  grower,  forming  a  beautiful  umbra- 
geous head,  hence  exceedingly  desirable  as  an  ornamental 
feature  of  the  orchard  or  garden. 

History.  Introduced  from  Italy  into  Louisiana  in  about 
1845,  from  which  state  it  has  been  disseminated  through- 
out Florida  and  California. 

SATSUMA:  QONSHIU,  KII  SEEDLESS 

Fruit.  Medium,  flattened ;  the  color  is  not  red,  like  the 
Dancy  Tangerine,  but  a  deeper  yellow  than  the  Man- 
darin; rind  and  segments  partly  free;  flesh  fine  grained, 
tender,  sweet,  juicy  and  delicious;  entirely  seedless.  Sea- 
son November  to  April. 


Thornless  and  of  spreading  dwarf  habit;  leaves 
branches   reclinate ;    a   slow   grower   and   bears 


Tree. 
narrow ; 
young. 

History.  The  Satsuma  is  a  Japanese  sort,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  first  introduced  into  Florida  in  1876  by  Dr. 
Geo.  R.  Hall,  and  later  (1878)  by  Mrs.  Van  Valkenburg. 
It  first  attracted  attention  in  California  in  the  eighties. 


KUMQUATS   (Variety  Nagami) 

Fruit.  About  an  inch  long  and  olive  or  egg-shaped; 
color  a  rich  golden  yellow;  peel  (which  is  edible)  smooth, 
aromatic  and  spicy  to  the  taste;  juice  somewhat  sparse 
but  acidulous;  sections  usually  five;  seeds  two  to  five. 
The  whole  fruit,  rind  and  all,  is  eaten  and  people  be- 
come very  fond  of  it.  Preserved  in  sugar  or  crystallized 
the  Kumquat,  wherever  it  is  known,  is  deservedly  popular. 


A  Kumquat  tree  ready  for  planting 


Tree.  Dwarf  and  bushy  in  habit;  usually  when  full 
grown  8  to  12  feet  in  diameter;  forming  a  shapely  head, 
rendering  it  an  ornament  as  a  tub  plant  or  placed  in  the 
garden.  An  enormous  bearer,  which  retains  its  fruit  for 
months,  giving  it  an  added  appearance  of  beauty  as  well 
as  utility. 

History.  Downing  in  his  Horticulturist  for  February, 
1850,  makes  mention  of  the  Kumquat  as  a  greenhouse 
plant.  At  a  later  period  it  undoubtedly  found  its  way 
into  Florida.  Reasoner  Brothers  imported  the  egg-shaped 
variety  in  1885  and  the  round  (known  as  Nagami)  in 
1890.  During  the  rapid  development  of  our  citrus  indus- 
try from  about  1875  to  1895,  this  fruit  undoubtedly  found 
its  way,  with  many  others,  to  California  from  Florida. 


32 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


ALGERIAN  TANGERINE 

Fruit.  Similar  in  appearance  to  the  Dancy  Tangerine 
but  matures  much  earlier.  Of  excellent  quality  and  size; 
nearly  seedless. 


ALGERIAN  MANDARIN 

Fruit,  Similar  in  appearance  to  the  ordinary  Man- 
darin but  ripens  very  much  earlier.  The  quality  is  good. 

Tree.  Not  quite  as  vigorous  as  other  types  of  Man- 
darins, but  is  very  productive  and  its  fine  willow  like 
foliage  makes  it  a  very  attractive  tree  for  home  and  orna- 
mental planting. 


Oonshiu  or  Satsuma  orange 

Tree.  A  vigorous  upright  grower  and  fully  as  prolific 
as  the  Dancy.  We  consider  it  a  valuable  introduction. 

History.  Introduced  by  Geo.  C.  Roeding  from  buds 
sent  from  Algiers  by  Dr.  Trabut  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment Experiment  Station. 


Willow -I  caved  Mandarin   orange 


King   Mandarin   orange 

History.  Introduced  by  Geo.  C.  Roeding  from  buds 
sent  here  by  Dr.  Trabut  at  the  same  time  the  Algerian 
Tangerine  buds  were  sent. 


STANDARD  VARIETIES  OF  LEMONS 


Lisbon   lemon 


EUREKA  LEMON 

Fruit.  In  shape  oblong  and  of  medium  size ;  peel  of 
fine  texture  and  good  protective  quality  and  rich  yellow. 
color;  flavor  of  strong  citrus  quality;  juice  free  and 
abundant,  with  but  little  "rag";  cures  and  keeps  well, 
giving  it  high  rank  in  the  trade. 

Tree.  Stalwart  grower  and  comparatively  free  from, 
thorns;  prolfic  bearer,  blooming  and  setting  fruit  con- 
tinuously throughout  the  year,  but  especially  a  good  crop- 
per during  the  summer  months. 

History.  Originated  as  a  chance  seedling  in  the  grounds 
of  Mr.  C.  R.  Workman,  from  seed  imported  in  1872  from 
Hamburg.  A  few  years  later  its  fine  qualities  attracted 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Garey,  one  of  the  leading  nurserymen  of 
that  day,  who  commenced  to  propagate  large  numbers  of 
trees  of  this  variety  by  budding,  thus  exploiting  and 
pioneering  the  way  to  its  dissemination  pretty  much  over 
California,  wherever  the  lemon  finds  congenial  conditions. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


33 


Eureka  lemon 


LISBON   LEMON 

Fruit.  Of  recognized  merit  in  the  markets  of  the  coun- 
try; fruit  of  average  size;  peel  smooth,  sweet  to  the  taste, 
pure  lemon  color,  and  of  medium  thickness;  flesh  fine 
grained,  nearly  transparent  and  abundant  juice;  flavor 
strongly  acidulous  and  free  from  bitterness;  practically 
seedless;  keeping  and  shipping  qualities  of  the  best. 

Tree.  Of  largest  growth;  thorny;  strong  vigorous 
grower  well  covered  with  foliage  and  a  good  bearer  of 
fruit,  running  uniform  in  size  and  even  maturity. 

History.  The  Lisbon  is  an  importation  from  Portugal, 
and  found  its  early  exploitation  and  development  in  Riv- 
erside, where  it  was  first  made  known  by  D.  N.  Burnharn. 
In  the  earlier  period  of  our  citrus  development  it  occu- 
pied the  place  of  honor,  but  its  position  has  been  super- 
seded by  the  Eureka. 

VILLA  FRANC/   LEMON 

Fruit.  Size  medium  to  large  and  oblong  in  form;  peel 
smooth,  of  good  texture  and  bright  yellow  in  color  with 
no  trace  of  bitterness;  flesh  fine  grained  and  translucent; 
juice  abundant  with  little  pulp;  a  high  grade  commercial 
fruit. 

Tree.  Upright  grower;  practically  thornless;  branches 
spreading  if  not  properly  pruned;  foliage  abundant;  a 
^thrifty  grower  and  good  bearer,  setting  its  fruit  well  into 
the  protection  of  its  own  foliage. 

History.  The  Villa  Franca  was  introduced  into  this 
country  by  General  Sanford,  and  first  planted  in  Florida, 
where  it  soon  made  a  place  for  itself.  In  the  late  eighties 
it  was  brought  from  Florida  to  California.  In  the  former 
state  it  occupies  first  place  as  a  commercial  lemon. 


NEW  AND  RARE  VARIETIES  OF  LEMONS 


SWEET  LEMON         ^ 

Fruit.  Small  in  size  and  rather  flattened;  color  gray-" 
ish  yellow;  flesh  a  dark  lemon  color;  juice  sweet  and 
insipid  with  slight  lemon  flavor. 

Tree.  A  vigorous  grower  but  of  spreading  habit.  Only 
worthy  of  propagation  as  a  curiosity. 

History.     A  Florida   introduction. 

DWARF  LEMON   (Citrus  Limonium) 

Fruit.  Somewhat  smaller  than  other  lemons,  but  of 
about  the  same  shape  and  quality. 

Tree.  More  of  a  bush  than  a  tree.  Never  attains  very 
large  size  and  is  suitable  for  planting  where  space  is  lim- 
ited. Very  prolific. 

History.     Said  to  have  originally  come  from  China. 


CEDROLA 

Fruit.  A  species  of  citron  but  in  appearance  and  flavor 
resembles  a  lemon.  Used  in  connection  with  certain  re- 
ligious ceremonies.  Quality  of  fruit  good  but  quite  seedy. 

Tree.     Rather  of  dwarf  habits  but  very  prolific. 

History.  A  species  of  Citrus  medica,  indegenous  to 
southern  Asia,  from  whence  it  found  its  way  to  the  Medi- 
terranean and  later  to  this  continent; 

PON'DEROSA  LEMON 

Fruit.  Very  large,  rough  and  coarse,  but  full  of  juice, 
of  excellent  quality.  A  desirable  variety  for  home  use 
but  of  no  commercial  value. 

Tree.  Inclined  to  be  of  dwarf  habit  and  quite  thorny. 
Very  prolific,  having  bloom  and  fruit  of  all  sizes  the 
year  around. 

History.     A  Florida  introduction. 


ORNAMENTAL  LEMONS 


VARIEGATED  LEMON 

Fruit.  Average  in  size,  mottled  and  streaked;  juice 
good  quality;  color  variegated;  flesh  somewhat  pink  in 
color. 

Tree.  Strikingly  individual  from  the  fact  that  its  shin- 
ing, lustrous  foliage  is  beautifully  veined  and  marked 


with  strong  yellow-colored  configurations,  which  give  it 
a  royal  and  handsome  appearance  as  a  specimen  plant  in 
the  garden  or  on  the  lawn. 

History.  Originated  some  years  ago  as  a  sport,  and 
propagated  in  a  small  way  solely  for  its  ornamental 
values,  which  give  it  high  rank  in  landscape  effects: 


Growers  should  not  fail  to  add  a  few  trees  of  the  little 
known  varieties  of  citrus  fruits  for  the  home  garden. 
Many  of  these  possess  an  ornamental  value  that  adds  much 


to  the  beauty  of  home  grounds.  Among  the  more  desirable 
ones  we  suggest  a  tree  or  two  of  Algerian  Tangerine  and 
Mandarin,  Sampson  Tangelo  and  Citrus  limonium. 


34 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


STANDARD  LIMES 


MEXICAN  LIME 

Fruit.  Rather  small  in  size,  oblong  or  oval ;  color  a 
pale  lemon  yellow;  peel  smooth  and  thin;  flesh  fine 
grained  and  grayish-green  in  color;  juice  abundant  and 
translucent;  acid  strong;  flavor  decidedly  that  of  the  lime 
rather  than  lemon;  almost  seedless. 

Tree.  Medium  and  compact,  growing  from  10  to  25 
feet  in  height;  thorny;  often  cultivated  as  a  hedge  plant. 

History.  This  variety  was  beyond  question  first  intro- 
duced at  an  early  period  into  Old  Mexico  by  the  Span- 
iards, from  whence  it  found  its  way  to  California  and 
Florida. 


TAHITI   LIME    (Bearss   Seedless) 

Fruit.  Size  of  a  small  lemon,  decidedly  oval  in  shape; 
peel  smooth  and  thin;  flesh  fine  grained  with  a  greenish 
tinge;  juice  plentiful  and  practically  colorless;  acid  pure 
and  strong;  flavor  of  the  best;  seedless;  also  known  as 
Bearss  Seedless. 

Tree.  Of  good  shape,  10  to  25  feet  high,  with  a  good 
spread  of  limbs;  fruit  produced  singly  and  in  clusters, 
well  protected  by  foliage;  slightly  thorny. 

History.     An  introduction  from  the  Island  of  Tahiti. 


NEW  AND  RARE  VARIETIES  OF  LIMES 


RANGPUR   LIME    (Red    Lime) 

Fruit.  Both  the  peel  and  pulp  have  a  rich  reddish 
color.  The  peel  is  loose,  somewhat  like  the  Mandarin. 
The  juice  has  the  acidity  of  the  Lime  and  Lemon. 

Tree.  Fairly  vigorous  growth  and  said  to  be  as  hardy 
as  the  Lemon. 

History.     Introduced  from  India. 

THORNLESS  LIME 

Fruit.  Medium  size  and  good  quality,  having  the  true 
lime  flavor. 


Tree.  Compact  and  uniform  in  growth  and  prac- 
tically thornless.  Quite  ornamental  in  appearance. 

History.  Introduced  from  South  America  by  Dr.  Fran- 
ceschi  of  Santa  Barbara. 

SWEET  LIME 

Fruit.  Of  medium  size  with  an  abundance  of  highly 
flavored  juice  and  unlike  other  limes  it  contains  less  acid 
and  more  sugar,  making  it  quite  sweet  to  the  taste. 

Tree.  Fairly  vigorous  but  quite  tender.  Should  be 
planted  in  a  warm  location. 

History.  Introduced  bv  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture from  Europe. 


STANDARD  POMELOS 


MARSH'S  SEEDLESS  POMELO 

Fruit.  Medium  size;  peel  thin,  with  half  the  usual 
bitter;  a  true  pomelo  (grape  fruit)  and  not  a  hybrid;  prac- 
tically seedless,  specimens  with  merely  rudimentary  seeds 
being  rare;  juice  abundant  and  of  exceptionally  fine 
flavor;  flesh  dark  and  rich.  .  In  serving  you  are  not 
required  to  remove  from  25  to  40  seeds,  as  is  necessary 
with  the  common  grape  fruit,  but  is  ready  for  the  table 
when  cut  in  halves;  being  devoid  of  seeds  to  germinate 
when  left  late  on  the  trees  or  in  storage,  enhances  its 
keeping  qualities,  which  is  a  great  factor  in  its  favor; 
cures  and  keeps  like  the  lemon. 

Tree.  Strong,  vigorous,  compact,  grower,  and  when  at 
its  best  is  indeed  an  object  of  beauty  with  its  liberal  fur- 
nishing of  rich  deep  green  foliage  and  great  bunches  of 
pure  lemon-yellow  globe-shaped  fruit;  a  good  bearer; 
quality  and  flavor  of  fruit  is  greatly  enhanced  by  liberal 
dressings  of  fertilizer  to  the  soil ;  when  setting  a  heavy 
crop,  the  fruit  should  be  thinned  out,  thus  affording  the 
tree  opportunity  to  perfect  the  remaining  fruits,  insuring 
quality,  size  and  volume  of  juice. 

History.  The  Marsh  Seedless  Pomelo  was  originally 
introduced  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Marsh,  of  Lakeland,  Florida,  in 
1895-96.  The  original  tree  was  a  seedling,  and  the  fruit 
being  without  seed  and  of  good  flavor,  at  once  brought 
it  into  public  notice.  Its  introduction  into  California 
occurred  about  twenty  years  ago.  The  Shaddock,  to 
which  the  Pomelo  belongs,  is  native  to  the  Malayan  and 
Polynesian  Islands. 

TRIUMPH 

Fruit.  Medium;  peel  smooth,  clear,  thin  and  fine- 
grained; less  "rag"  than  in  most  grapefruits,  and  fewer 


seeds;  very  heavy;  juicy  and  well  flavored.  There  is  no 
bitter  in  the  juice,  flesh  or  membrane  surrounding  the 
cells  and  dividing  the  segments,  and  very  little  in  the 
white  inner  lining  of  the  peel.  Like  the  preceding,  the 
fruit  cures  and  keeps  equally  as  well  as  the  lemon. 

Tree.     Of  good   habit   and   comes   into  bearing   young; 
prolific.     Among  the  best  of  the  later  introductions. 


Marsh  Seedles  pomelo 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cat. 


35 


History.  The  original  Triumph  Pomelo  is  said  to  have 
been  a  chance  seedling  discovered  in  the  grounds  of  the 
Orange  Grove  Hotel  at  Tampa,  Florida.  Its  commer- 
cial dissemination  dates  from  about  the  year  1885;  some 
years  later  it  found  its  way  to  Southern  California,  and 
soon  attained  rank  with  shippers  as  well  as  growers. 


DUNCAN  POMELO 

Fruit.  In  shape  it  is  slightly  oblate  and  of  desirable 
size  for  commercial  use,  color  clear  yellow,  with  oil  cells 
showing  through  the  skin;  very  juicy  and  said  to  contain 
more  of  the  true  grapefruit  flavor  than  any  other  fruit. 
In  Florida  it  ripens  in  December  but  can  be  left  on  the 
tree  until  May  without  deterioration.  One  of  the  leading 
varieties  in  Florida. 

Tree.  Quite  vigorous  and  very  hardy,  said  to  with- 
stand a  temperature  that  will  seriously  damage  other 
varieties.  The  original  Duncan  tree  is  still  producing 
good  crops  of  fruit  although  more  than  80  years  old. 

History.  Introduced  by  the  Glen  Saint  Mary  Nurs- 
eries from  a  seedling  in  the  grove  of  A.  L.  Duncan, 
Duneda,  Florida. 


IMPERIAL 

Fruit.  Very  similar  to  the  Marsh  Seedless  in  size,  shape 
and  color;  peel  smooth  and  fine  grained;  juice  abundant; 
little  rag;  flavor  sweet  and  pleasant;  good  keeper;  seeds 
more  or  less  pronounced. 

Tree.  A  strong  upright  compact  grower;  fruit  well  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  bearing  surface;  fruits  from  sec- 
ond to  third  year  after  tree  has  been  planted  in  orchard 
form ;  habit  good,  making  a  fine  symmetrical  appearance, 
true  to  the  pomelo  type. 

History.  A  chance  Florida  introduction,  given  the 
name  Imperial,  in  California. 

FOSTER  POMELO 

Fruit.  Large  in  size,  running  from  48s  to  64s,  which 
are  the  most  desirable  sizes  commercially.  Peel  smooth 
and  fairly  thin ;  flesh  purplish  pink  next  to  the  skin  chang- 
ing to  a  clear  translucent  color  at  the  center,  has  the  true 
pomelo  flavor  with  very  little  rag;  one  of  the  earliest 
varieties  to  ripen.  ^*~ 

Tree.     Of  vigorous  upright  growth. 

History.  Said  to  be  a  sport  of  the  well-known  Walters 
variety  grown  in  Florida. 


ODD  CITRUS  VARIETIES 


SAMPSON  TANGELO 

Fruit.  Compresseed  spherical,  slightly  drawn  out  at 
stem  end  like  tangerine;  of  medium  size,  color  chrome 
yellow,  consilerably  darker  than  the  pomelo,  though  not 
so  red  as  the  tangerine ;  skin  thin,  about  one-eighth  of 
an  inch  in  thickness,  loose  and  easily  removed,  surface 
smooth  and  glossy;  segments  9  to  11,  separating  easily 
like  tangerine;  membranes  thin  and  tender;  rag  very 
slight;  quality  excellent;  texture  very  tender  and  juicy; 
flavor  slightly  sub-acid,  somewhat  sweeter  than  pomelo, 
medium  in  size. 

Tree.  A  vigorous,  strong,  upright  grower,  and  in  the 
opinion  of  its  originators  will  prove  productive;  no 
hardier  than  either  of  its  parents,  the  Dancy  Tangerine 
and  ordinary  Pomelo,  foliage  more  like  the  latter  than 
the  former. 

History.  The  hybrid  seedling  from  which  this  variety 
was  developed  was  grown  and  fruited  by  Mr.  F.  G. 
Sampson,  of  Boardman,  Florida.  On  the  suggestion  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington,  we  have 
adopted  the  name  of  "Sampson  Tangelo." 

BUN-TAN  L 

Fruit.  About  the  size  of  a  large  pomelo  with  rather 
thick  skin,  light  yellow  in  color.  Flesh  quite  like  a  pom- 
elo but  with  a  pink  tinge;  has  a  distinct  but  quite  agree- 
able flavor. 

Tree.  Vigorous  and  in  appearance  quite  like  the  Pom- 
elo. 

History.     Said  to  be  of  Japanese  origin. 


CITRANGE 

Fruit.  Entirely  different  in  flavor  from  any  other  citrus 
fruit  and  said  to  make  a  very  desirable  drink,  taking  the 
place  of  orange  or  lemonade. 

Tree.  Very  hardy  and  quite  vigorous.  The  value  of 
this  variety  lies  in  its  hardiness  and  ability  to  grow  where 
the  temperature  goes  too  low  to  grow  any  other  citrus 
fruits.  Can  be  grown  in  the  Southern  Gulf  Coast  States, 
also  in  Northern  California  and  parts  of  Oregon. 

History.  An  introduction  by  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, being  a  cross  between  the  common  sweet  orange 
and  Citrus  Trifoliata. 

THE   CITRON   OF   COMMERCE 

Fruit.  Oblong,  and  conical  in  shape ;  skin  thick,  warty 
and  furrowed  in  some  varieties,  while  smooth  in  others; 
color  lemon-yellow  and  highly  scented;  pulp  less  acid 
than  the  lemon.  The  Citron  of  Commerce  is  manufac- 
tured from  this  fruit,  and  it  also  yields  an  essential  oil. 
The  amount  of  citron  rind  sold  in  the  United  States 
amounts  to  12,000  cases  of  250  pounds  each,  every  ounce 
of  which  is  imported.  Its  manufacture  in  California  has 
been  demonstrated. 

Tree.  Rather  dwarf  in  habit,  and  inclined  to  sprawl, 
but  with  its  large  light  green  foliage  makes  a  very  pre- 
sentable appearance;  it  is  somewhat  susceptible  to  frost; 
fruits  and  blossoms  throughout  the  year. 

History.  Introduced  into  California  both  by  private 
enterprise  and  on  the  initiative  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  at  Washington. 


CITRUS    TREES  FOR  THE  HOME  GROUNDS 


No  one  thing  has  done  more  to  increase  the  production 
of  California  citrus  orchards  than  bud  selection.  All  the 
care  and  labor  expended  on  unproductive  or  inferior 
fruiting  trees  will  not  make  them  produce  good  fruit,  and 
all  such  trees  should  be  rebudded  to  productive  strains 
selected  from  record  bearing  trees.  In  buying  trees  from 


nurserymen  using  nothing  but  selected  buds  the  danger  of 
having  unproductive  trees  or  an  inferior  quality  of  fruit 
is  eliminated.  The  same  labor  and  care  expended  on 
selected  trees  will  produce  remunerative  returns,  whereas 
only  loss  and  disappointmnt  is  the  result  if  unproven  stock 
is  planted. 


36 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


A    busy  scene   in   the   San   Dimas  orange  packing  house. 


HANDLING  THE  CROP 


IN  the  earlier  days  of  California  citrus  culture 
it  was  not  uncommon  to  find  a  small  packing 
plant  at  most  every  orchard  of  any  size,  but 
such  is  not  the  case  now.  Only  the  larger 
growers,  having  sufficient  acreage  to  warrant  a  good 
sized  house,  have  their  individual  plants.  With  the 
numerous  packing  houses  in  almost  every  locality 
operated  either  by  private  packers  or  local  association 
of  growers,  it  is  no  longer  necessary  for  the  grower 
of  5,  10,  or  20  acres  of  fruit  to  have  a  private  plant, 
in  fact  these  packing  concerns  have  picking  crews, 
working  under  the  supervision  of  competent  foremen, 
that  come  to  the  orchard  and  pick  the  fruit  and  if 
necessary,  convey  it  to  the  packing  house.  The  par- 
ticular advantage  of  this  is  that  these  picking  crews 
are  experienced  men,  knowing  how  to  properly  pick 
and  handle  the  fruit  so  that  it  will  reach  the  packing 
house  in  the  best  possible  condition. 

Upon  the  proper  handling  of  the  fruit  largely  de- 
pends its  carrying  quality,  and  careless  picking  and 
handling  often  causes  heavy  losses  in  decayed  fruit 
before  it  reaches  the  market.  A  slight  cut  with  the 
orange  clippers,  scratch  with  the  finger  nails  or  bruise 
from  dropping  the  fruit  in  the  boxes  will  start  decay 
and  one  such  fruit  placed  in  a  box  often  times  causes 
the  loss  of  the  entire  box  of  fruit.  It  therefore  be- 
hooves the  grower,  whether  he  picks  his  own  fruit  or 


hires  it  done,  to  use  every  care  in  seeing  that  it  is 
properly  handled  from  the  trees  to  the  packing  house. 
The  picking  should  be  done  with  the  latest  improved 
clippers.  These  clippers  are  so  constructed  that  they 
will  not  bruise  the  fruit.  The  stems  should  be  cut 
as  closely  as  possible  so  as  not  to  leave  a  long  stem  on 
the  fruit  to  bruise  other  fruit  in  the  box.  Never 
allow  either  oranges  or  lemons  to  be  pulled  from  the 
tree  as  it  invariably  spoils  them  for  shipping  and  they 
will  be  thrown  out  as  culls.  Use  a  regular  picking 
sack  made  of  canvas  with  the  bottom  so  arranged  that 
it  can  be  opened  and  the  fruit  let  out  in  that  way 
rather  than  being  poured  out  from  the  top.  This 
allows  the  picker  to  empty  his  sack  into  the  boxes 
without  bruising  the  fruit.  The  field  boxes  are 
usually  supplied  by  the  packing  house  handling  the 
crop.  Never  fill  them  more  than  level  full  so  that  in 
stacking,  the  boxes  will  not  smash  or  bruise  the  top 
fruit.  In  hauling  to  the  packing  house  use  a  wagon 
or  conveyance  with  good  springs.  Many  houses  will 
not  accept  fruit  hauled  on  a  wagon  without  springs. 
With  the  more  general  use  of  the  auto  truck  for  this 
work,  horse  drawn  vehicles  are  being  displaced  and 
for  hauling  any  distance  they  are  not  only  much 
faster  but  much  easier  on  the  fruit. 

The  modern  packing  house  equipment  is  so  de- 
signed that  all  unnecessary  handling  is  eliminated  and 
from  the  time  the  fruit  is  received  at  the  door  until  it 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


37 


Twenty  carloads  of  boxes  of  oranges  direct  from  the  pickers  ready  for  grading  and  packing. 


is  loaded  in  the  cars  for  shipment  every  known  device 
is  used  to  prevent  bumps  and  bruises.  As  the  field 
boxes  are  taken  from  the  wagon  or  truck  they  are 
usually  set  on  belt  or  roller  conveyors  which  carry 
them  to  the  storage  room.  From  here  it  is  trucked 
to  the  elevator  which  carries  the  boxes,  and  auto- 
matically dumps  the  fruit  into  a  hopper  from  which 
it  passes  through  the  brusher,  which  cleans  it  of  all 
dust  and  dirt  as  it  passes  through.  From  here  it 
passes  on  to  the  sorting  table  where  the  necessary 
help  inspects  each  orange  and  sorts  out  the  different 
grades,  placing  each  on  separate  conveyors  which 
carry  the  fruit  to  the  grader  or  sizer  running  that 
particular  grade  of  fruit. 

The  common  grades  are  designated  as  Fancy, 
Choice,  Standards  and  culls,  although  some  houses 
run  additional  grades  known  as  Extra  Fancy  and 
Extra  Choice.  Only  such  oranges  as  are  perfect  in 
shape,  color,  texture  and  without  blemishes  are  run 
in  the  Fancy  or  Extra  Fancy  grades.  The  choice  or 
Extra  Choice  grade  consists  of  all  first  class  fruit  not 
quite  up  to  the  standard  necessary  for  the  first  grade. 
That  is,  they  may  not  be  quite  so  highly  colored,  of 
just  a  little  rougher  texture  or  may  have  some  small 
blemishes,  but  nothing  that  will  tend  to  affect  their 
keeping  or  carrying  quality.  The  standard  grade 
consists  of  such  fruit  as  will  not  pass  for  Fancy  or 
Choice  but  that  is  sound  and  of  marketable  quality. 
All  fruit  that  shows  sign  of  having  been  bruised  in 
handling  or  where  the  peel  is  checked  or  split  so  as 


to  impair  its  keeping  quality  and  all  rough  inferior 
fruits  are  put  into  the  culls.  In  former  years  these 
were  sorted  over,  the  poorer  ones  being  dumped  and 
the  best  of  them  sold  to  peddlers  at  a  few  cents  a  box 
and  came  more  or  less  in  competition  with  the  better 
grade  of  fruit.  With  the  establishment  of  Citrus  By- 
Product  factories,  most  of  these  culls  are  now  used 
up  in  the  manufacture  of  marmalades,  jellies,  ex- 
tracts, etc.,  and  while  the  price  obtained  for  such 
fruit  is  not  great  it  tends  to  prevent  it  from  being 
placed  on  the  market  tp  break  down  the  price  of  good 
fruit. 

The  modern  packing  houses  are  equipped  with  sep- 
arate graders  for  each  grade  of  fruit  run,  also  with 
automatic  scales  so  that  as  the  fruit  passes  from  the 
sorting  tables  each  grade  is  weighed  before  passing 
onto  the  grader  and  the  grower  knows  just  how  many 
pounds  of  each  grade  has  been  run  for  him.  Where 
automatic  scales  are  not  used,  it  is  necessary  to  keep 
each  grower's  fruit  separate  until  it  is  packed,  making 
what  is  known  as  a  "clean  up"  after  each  run,  so  as 
to  ascertain  the  number  of  boxes  of  the  different 
grades  the  grower's  fruit  packed  out. 

As  the  fruit  passes  onto  the  graders,  which  con- 
sists of  a  series  of  revolving  rollers  set  for  the  dif- 
ferent sizes  to  be  packed,  the  smaller  fruit  drops  out 
first  and  the  larger  sizes  pass  on  to  the  end,  being  the 
last  to  drop  out.  As  the  tfruit  drops  through,  it 
passes  to  packing  bins  arranged  for  each  size.  The 
packers  take  the  fruit  from  these  bins  and  after  wrap- 


STANDARD  PACKS  FOR  ORANGES 

USED  BY  THE  TRADE  IN  CALIFORNIA 


STANDARD  PACKS  FOR  LEMONS 

USED  BY  THE  TRADE  IN  CALIFORNIA 


40 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


ping  it  in  tissue  wrapping  paper,  cut  for  the  different 
sizes,  it  is  packed  in  the  boxes  for  shipment.  All 
fruit  is  packed  by  a  regular  standard,  and  each 
size  has  a  certain  definite  way  in  which  the  fruit 
must  be  placed  in  the  box.  The  standard  orange 
box  is  divided  into  two  compartments,  each  being 
liy2x\\l/2xlll/2  inches,  inside  measurement  and  the 
standard  grades  are  64s,  80s,  100s,  126s,  150s,  176s, 
200s,  216s,  250s,  and  324s.  In  grading  the  fruit  it 
is  always  run  just  a  little  large  so  that  when  packed, 
it  will  fit  tightly  in  the  boxes  and  when  the  last 
layer  is  placed,  it  should  be  about  two  inches  above 
the  top  of  the  box.  This  allows  for  any  shrinkage 
that  may  occur  in  transit  and  prevents  the  possibility 
of  the  fruit  becoming  loose  and  shaking  around  in 
the  box.  As  the  packers  complete  the  packing  opera- 
tion, the  boxes  are  placed  on  another  conveyer  which 
•carries  them  to  the  press  where  the  lids  and  center 
strips  are  nailed  on  and  the  fruit  is  ready  to  be  loaded 
in  the  cars. 

For  local  shipments  ordinary  box  cars  are  used, 
but  for  Northern  and  Eastern  markets  the  regular 
ventilated  refrigerator  cars  are  the  only  ones  that 
it  is  safe  to  ship  in.  For  winter  shipments  these 
cars  are  usually  closed  tight  or  ventilated,  according 
to  weather  conditions  in  the  section  through  which 
they  are  passing,  but  all  summer  shipments  are  sent 
out  under  ice  to  prevent  decay.  Formerly  the  stand- 
ard car  of  oranges  contained  362  to  384  packed 
boxes,  but  the  shortage  of  refrigerator  cars  has  made 
it  necessary  to  load  heavier  and  under  government 
control  the  railway  officials  insisted  on  what  is  known 
as  a  solid  load  whch  required  462  boxes,  and  with 
the  return  to  pre-war  conditions  the  railroads  are 
still  insisting  on  the  heavier  loads.  During  the  pres- 
ent season  the  California  Fruit  Growers'  Exchange 
has  been  experimenting  with  water  transportaton 


with  very  satisfactory  results,  which  would  indicate 
that  a  large  part  of  the  citrus  fruit  for  eastern  and 
middle  west  consumption  will  in  the  future  be  shipped 
by  water  as  the  fruit  not  only  carries  with  very  little 
decay,  but  at  a  considerable  saving  in  freight  charges. 
The  process  of  handling  lemons  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  handling  oranges.  In  picking 
lemons  they  are  taken  according  to  size  rather  than 
degree  of  ripeness  and  it  is  customary  for  the  pickers 
to  use  a  ring  of  the  proper  size  to  prevent  picking 
under  size  fruit.  For  winter  picking  2  5-16  inch 
rings  are  used  and  for  spring  and  summer  picking 
21-2  inch  rings. 

Lemons  are  picked  every  month  or  six  weeks 
throughout  the  year.  Those  picked  during  the  win- 
ter months  are  put  in  storage  and  held  for  the  spring 
and  summer  trade,  while  those  picked  later  are  only 
held  in  the  curing  rooms  long  enough  to  allow  them 
to  properly  color  and  become  somewhat  pliable  so 
as  to  facilitate  packing. 

Up  to  the  present  time  no  grader  has  been  manu- 
factured that  will  successfully  grade  lemons  and 
therefore  this  work  must  all  be  done  by  hand.  The 
grades  as  to  quality  are  the  same  as  with  oranges 
but  the  pack  is  entirely  different,  the  standard  lemon 
box  being  10^  x  14  x  27  inches  outside  measure- 
ments, divided  into  two  compartments,  and  the 
packs  are  210s,  240s,  270s,  300s,  360s,  420s,  and 
490s.  These  figures  represent  the  number  of  lem- 
ons of  the  different  sizes  there  are  in  a  box. 

Pomelos  are  also  graded  by  hand  but  are  packed 
in  the  standard  orange  box,  the  sizes  being  36s,  48s, 
64s,  80s  and  96s. 

The  36's,  48's  and  64's  are  the  sizes  most  in  de- 
mand, and  as  pomelos  are  very  prolific  it  is  some- 
time adviable  to  thin  the  fruit  when  it  is  small  in 
order  to  give  that  remaining  a  chance  to  attain 
marketable  size. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cat. 


41 


^-t^    j*i 
'Mr~ 


Standard  pomelo  packs. 


A  standard  lemon  pack. 


Standard  orange  packs. 


A  standard  Tangerine  pack. 


The  above  illustrations  convey  a  clear  idea  of  the  stand-  tiful  colored  label,  while  the  sides  are  stenciled  with  the 

ard  commercial  packs  of  citrus  fruits  as  they  appear  when  name  of  the  shipper.     Note  the  regular  manner  in  which 

opened  and  placed  on  sale  at  points  of  destina-ion.     The  the  fruit  "opens  up,"  which  has  much  to  do  with  its  appear- 

ends  of  the  boxes  are  invariably  embellished  with  a  beau-  ance  and  selling  qualities. 


From    left   to   right:     Puebla,   Sharpless   and   Puerto.    Avocados 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


43 


Bearing    habit    of    the    better    strains    of    avocado    trees 


TROPICAL  FRUITS  IN  CALIFORNIA 


AVOCADOS 

AUTHORITIES  tell  us  that  the  native 
home  of  the  Avocado  is  Southern  Mexico. 
From  there  it  was  introduced  into  the 
tropical  sections  of  Central  and  South 
America.  In  1526  Gonzalo  Hernandez  de  Oviedo 
gave  the  first  written  account  of  the  Avocado,  hav- 
ing seen  trees  growing  in  Columbia  near  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama.  Other  explorers  report  its  presence  in 
Mexico  and  Central  America  during  the  sixteenth 
century,  referring  to  it  as  an  article  of  food  amongst 
the  natives.  In  these  tropical  countries  it  takes  the 
place  of  meat  to  a  very  large  extent.  The  natives  of 
Guatemala  consider  a  few  tortillas,  an  Avocado  and 
a  cup  of  coffee  a  very  good  meal. 

The  Avocado  contains  a  higher  percentage  of  oil 
and  fat,  some  varieties  going  as  high  as 30%.  Thepro- 
tein  content  is  also  higher  than  in  any  other  fresh 
fruit. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  it  ranks  high  as  a 
food  and  its  consumption  will  be  much  more  general 
amongst  the  people  of  the  United  States  as  they  be- 
come acquainted  with  its  true  food  value. 

There  are  three  different  groups  of  Avocados:  the 
West  Indian,  Guatemalan  and  Mexican. 

The  distinction  is,  however,  less  between  the  West 
Indian  and  the  Guatemalan,  the  principal  difference 
being  in  the  hardiness  of  the  tree  and  the  thickness 
of  the  peel  of  the  fruit,  the  former  being  more  sus- 
ceptible to  cold  and  the  peel  thinner  and  more  of  a 
leathery  texture.  The  foliage  is  also  of  a  lighter 
shade  than  in  the  Guatemalan  type. 

Up  to  the  present  time  practically  all  of  the  com- 


mercial plantings  in  Florida  have  been  of  the  West 
Indian  varieties,  but  in  California  they  have  not 
proven  successful  on  account  of  their  inability  to 
withstand  our  winter  climate. 

The  Guatemalan  type  being  a  native  of  the  high- 
lands of  Guatemala,  where  the  climate  corresponds 
more  nearly  to  that  of  California,  seem  to  be  better 
adapted  to  our  conditions  and  the  few  old  seedling 
trees  now  growing  in  different  sections  indicate  that 
this  type  will  thrive  wherever  oranges  or  lemons  are 
not  damaged  by  cold  weather. 

The  Mexican  type  is  the  most  hardy  of  any  of  the 
Avocados,  but  the  fruit  (with  a  few  exceptions)  has 
a  very  thin  skin  and  is  much  smaller  than  either  the 
West  Indian  or  Guatemalan.  The  seed  in  most  all 
fruits  of  this  type  is  inclined  to  be  loose  in  the  cavity. 
This,  together  with  the  thin  skin,  makes  them  un- 
desirable for  shipping. 

EARLY   INTRODUCTION   INTO 
CALIFORNIA 

As  far  as  known  the  first  introduction  of  Avocados 
into  California  was  made  in  1871  by  R.  B.  Ord,  who 
brought  three  trees  from  Mexico  and  planted  them 
at  Santa  Barbara.  Other  trees  and  seeds  were 
brought  in  and  planted  from  time  to  time  after  that 
date.  The  Miller,  Murrietta  and  Chappelow  trees 
were  some  of  the  earliest.  Many  of  the  earlier  plant- 
ings were  killed  by  frosts  on  account  of  being  either 
planted  in  localities  not  suited  to  their  culture,  or 
being  varieties  of  the  more  tender  sorts  not  adapted 
to  our  climatic  conditions.  Only  after  it  was  seen 
that  the  more  hardy  Mexican  varieties  would  sur- 
vive and  produce  fruit  here  was  any  effort  made  to 
propagate  the  better  and  larger  sorts. 


44 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


The  Fuerte  avocado  tree:  one  of  the  leading   varieties  for   commercial   planting 


About  1910  sufficient  interest  was  created,  by  the 
fruiting  of  some  of  the  Guatemalan  seedlings  then 
growing  in  different  sections  of  Southern  California, 
so  that  explorations  were  made  into  the  highlands  of 
Mexico  and  Guatemala  in  search  of  better  and  more 
frost  resistant  sorts,  as  a  result  of  which  we  now 
have  a  number  of  desirable  varieties  that  give  promise 


of  placing  the  industry  on  a  substantial  commercial 
basis  in  this  state. 

In  May,  1915,  a  number  of  people  interested  .in 
Avocado  culture  in  California  formed  an  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  California  Avocado  Association, 
the  object  being  to  work  together  in  establishing  the 
Avocado  culture  on  a  more  substantial  basis.  Due 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


The  Sharpies s  c.vccado;  in  habit  tree  a  tall  grower  and  good  producer. 


to  the  efforts  of  these  pioneers  great  advancement  has 
been  made  in  the  introduction  ard  selection  of  new 
and  valuable  varieties,  as  well  as  in  the  elimination 
of  those  that  have  no  commercial  value,  also  in  cul- 
tural practices  and  in  handling  and  marketing  the 
fruit.  At  the  present  time  the  Association  has  over 
four  hundred  members  and  the  attendance  at  their 


semi-annual  rrcetings  shows  the  interest  manifested 
in  Avocado  growing.  A  close  study  has  been  made 
of  the  varieties  now  bearing,  and  only  those  that 
have  real  commercial  merit  are  recommended  to 
planters. 

A  bud  selection  department  has  also  been  organ- 
ized and   individual   tree  records  are  being  kept  so 


46 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


that  nurserymen  and  orchardists  may  secure  buds  of  seed  is  started  in  beds  and  when  sufficiently  matured 
known  parentage,  thus  assuring  the  planter  trees  that  transplanted  to  the  field  (much  the  same  manner  as 
will  prove  to  be  prolific  and  true  to  name.  citrus  seedlings),  and  when  lar-rp  p-o<.~v.  „--  '^ 


A  symmetrical  Dickinson  avocado   tree ;  a  'vigorous  grower  and  good  producer. 


We  would  earnestly  recommend  that  all  parties  in- 
terested in  Avocado  culture  join  this  Association,  as 
their  annual  and  semi-annual  reports  (issued  in  book 
form)  are  alone  worth  the  nominal  membership  fee. 

GROWING  AND  TRANSPLANTING  THE 
NURSERY  TREES 

For  the  purposes  of  insuring  increased  hardiness 
the  Mexican  seedlings  are  used  as  root  stocks.  The 


to  the  varieties  desired.  Much  care  is  necessary, 
however,  in  budding,  and  both  seedlings  and  buds 
must  be  in  proper  condition  to  make  the  operation 
successful.  After  the  buds  start  to  grow  the  seedling 
tops  are  cut  off  and  the  young  buds  trained  to  stakes 
the  same  as  with  citrus  stock. 

In  taking  up  Avocados  it  is  advisable  to  ball  them, 
although  under  certain  conditions  they  may  be  moved 
"open  roots",  but  this  method  is  very  hazardous  at 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


47 


best,  hence  we  do  not  advise  it  only  where  impossible 
to  take  them  out  with  balls  of  earth. 

Before  starting  to  transplant  them  all  new  or  ten- 


more  quickly  and  generally  grow  better  than  when 
moved  direct  from  the  nursery  to  the  orchard. 

After  planting  it  is  best  to  shade  the  trees  until 


A  fine  specimen  Spinks  avocado  tree;  yielding    fruit   weighing   from   28   to    30   ounces. 


der  growth  should  be  pruned  off,  care  being  taken  to 
paint  all  large  cuts.  This  should  be  done  several 
days  before  the  trees  are  dug.  As  with  citrus  trees, 
it  is  advisable  to  place  the  trees  in  a  lath  house,  or 
under  partial  shade  for  a  few  days  after  digging, 
before  planting  in  orchard  form.  This  gives  the  trees 
a  chance  to  recover  from  the  shock  of  digging ;  under 
more  favorable  conditions  they  will  start  to  grow 


more  readily.  This  can  be  done  by  driving 
four  stakes  and  spreading  burlap  over  the  top  and  on 
the  south  side;  the  idea  being  to  protect  the  trees 
from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  from  about  10  a.  m. 
to  4  p.  m. 

As  Avocados  are  susceptible  to  sunburn  it  is  im- 
portant that  the  trunks  be  protected  until  the  trees 
have  sufficient  top  to  shade  themselves. 


48 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


CLIMATE  AND  SOIL 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  Avocados  of  the  Guatemalan 
type  will  do  well  wherever  lemons  are  successfully 
grown,  while  those  of  the  Mexican  type  will  with- 
stand any  temperature  that  does  not  damage  oranges. 
This  of  course  applies  to  bearing  trees.  Young  trees 
just  out  of  the  nursery  will  not  stand  as  low  a  tem- 
perature as  those  that  have  reached  maturity,  and 
therefore  need  some  protection  for  the  first  two  or 
three  winters,  especially  if  planted  where  the  tem- 
perature is  apt  to  go  below  32  degrees  F. 


Mexican  seedling  avocado  trees  in  nursery  rows 

Another  climatic  condition  that  must  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  the  successful  growing  of  Avocados 
is  humidity.  The  Avocado  being  a  native  of  the 
tropics  naturally  prefers  a  humid  atmosphere  and 
therefore  is  at  its  best  when  grown  within  a  reason- 
able distance  from  the  coast.  Trees  planted  in  the 
hot  interior  valleys  do  not  do  as  well  as  thpse  enjoy- 
ing coastal  conditions,  due  to  the  dryness  of  the  at- 
mosphere rather  than  to  the  heat;  it  has  been  ob- 
served that  trees  planted  in  such  localities  shed  their 
leaves  in  the  heat  of  summer,  no  matter  how  moist 
the  soil  is  kept.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the 
best  locations  for  Avocado  culture,  from  a  climatic 
standpoint,  are  to  be  found  in  the  warmer  sections 
between  the  coast  and  the  first  mountain  range. 

Another  climatic  condition  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration is  the  danger  from  heavy  winds 

In  regard  to  soil  the  Avocado  does  not  seem  to  be 
over  particular,  hence  they  will  grow  on  almost  any 
kind  of  soil,  provided  it  is  of  sufficient  depth  and 
the  drainage  good.  Trees  do  best,  however,  when 
planted  in  a  deep  loamy  soil.  They  should  not  be 
planted  where  the  water  level  is  within  three  feet  of 
the  surface.  As  we  depend  entirely  on  irrigation  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  it  is  not  essential  that  the 
water  level  be  at  any  set  distance,  just  so  it  does  not 
come  to  within  three  feet  of  the  surface. 


PLANTING  SEASON 

The  best  time  to  plant  Avocados  is  from  March  1 
to  April  30,  but  they  may  be  planted  at  any  time 
during  the  summer  provided  proper  care  is  exercised. 
It  is  not  advisable  to  plant  during  the  winter  months 
on  account  of  the  danger  of  frosts.  It  is  best  to 
plant  as  early  after  March  1  as  possible,  as  the  trees 
then  become  established  while  the  weather  is  mod- 
erate and  they  are  in  better  condition  to  stand  the 
summer  heat.  They  will  also  have  the  advantage  of 
a  longer  growing  season,  and  thus  be  in  a  hardier 
condition  for  their  first  winter  in  the  orchard. 

DISTANCE  TO  PLANT 

The  slower  growing  varieties,  and  also  those  that 
make  more  of  an  upright  growth,  may  be  planted 
from  20  to  25  feet  each  way,  but  the  more  thrifty 
trees  and  those  of  a  spreading  habit  should  be  planted 
not  closer  than  30  feet  apart.  This  also  depends 
somewhat  on  the  nature  of  the  soil,  as  trees  planted 
in  a  heavy  rich  soil  make  a  more  vigorous  growth 
than  on  the  lighter  soils.  If  uncertain  as  to  the 
proper  distance  to  plant,  give  the  trees  the  benefit  of 
the  doubt  by  planting  them  a  little  further  apart.  It 
is  better  to  give  them  too  much  room  rather  than 
have  them  crowded  when  they  come  into  full  bearing. 


Standard  sizes   of  balled  avocado   trees 
2  to  3  feet,  3  to  4,  4  to  5,   and  5  to  8. 

PLANTING 

Planting  is  much  the  same  as  with  citrus  trees. 
On  heavy  soils,  where  the  drainage  is  not  apt  to  be 
good,  it  is  best  to  blast  the  holes  before  planting,  but 
the  trees  must  not  be  planted  until  the  earth  has 
been  thoroughly  settled  again  with  water.  Set  the 
trees  as  near  as  possible  the  same  depth  as  they  grew 
in  the  nursery,  and  never  more  than  one  or  two 
inches  above  the  top  of  the  ball.  Fill  the  holes  with 
surface  soil  and  water  immediately.  Do  not  mix  fer- 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


49 


A  prolific  Puebla  avocado  tree,  habit  erect  icith  spreading  branches. 


tilizer  of  any  kind  with  the  soil  used  in  filling  the 
holes  and  it  is  best  not  to  apply  any  fertilizer  until 
after  the  trees  have  become  established  and  started  to 
make  some  growth.  Unless  the  soil  is  very  poor,  do 
not  fertilize  until  trees  start  to  bear  and  at  first  use 
it  very  sparingly. 

Budded  Avocados  are  quite  tender  and  easily  dam- 
aged, so  care  must  be  exercised  in  handling.  Never 
lift  them  bv  the  trunk  but  always  take  hold  of  the 


ball  from  underneath  or  by  the  loose  ends  of  the 
burlap  above  where  it  is  tied  in  balling.  Extreme 
care  must  be  exercised  in  handling  balled  trees  so  as 
rot  to  crack  or  break  the  ball  in  any  way,  or  the 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  balling  is  lost  and  the  tree 
is  apt  to  die. 

As  stated  elsewhere,  the  Avocado  is  very  suscep- 
tible to  sunburn,  so  do  not  neglect  to  properly  shade 
the  tree  as  soon  as  planted.  This  covering  should  be 


50 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


A  <well-de<veloped  fruiting  avocado   orchard. 


left  on  for  a  month  or  more  or  until  they  have  made 
some  new  growth.  After  this  covering  is  remove  .. 
tree  protectors  or  some  other  covering  should  be  put 
on  the  trunks  and  any  exposed  limbs  should  be  either 
whitewashed  or  covered  until  sufficient  top  has  been 
made  to  protect  them  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 

CULTURAL  DIRECTIONS 

We  are  told  that  in  the  Tropics  very  little  care  is 
given  Avocados,  in  fact,  most  of  the  trees  grow  in  a 
comparative  wild  state;  however,  we  must  not  as- 
sume that  they  will  do  well  here  under  similar  neg- 
lect, as  our  climatic  conditions  vary  greatly  from 
those  of  the  Tropics,  and  therefore  we  must  adopt 
methods  more  in  accordance  with  those  used  in  gen- 
eral orchard  culture.  It  has  been  our  observation 
that  the  Avocado  orchards,  where  cultivation  is  prac- 
ticed and  the  soil  kept  free  from  weeds  or  other  vege- 
table growth,  show  better  growth  than  where  they 
are  allowed  to  grow  more  as  they  do  in  the  country 
of  their  nativity. 

The  Avocado  is  a  vigorous  growing  tree,  and 
therefore  requires  an  abundance  of  moisture.  Ex- 
cepting in  very  heavy  soils,  where  the  drainage  is 
inclined  to  be  poor,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
them  too  much  water.  This  does  not  mean,  however, 
that  irrigation  should  be  continuous.  On  light  soils 
an  irrigation  every  two  or  three  weeks  during  the 
warmest  part  of  the  summer  will  keep  them  in  good 
condition  provided,  of  course,  the  soil  is  kept  well 
cultivated  between  irrigations.  On  the  heavier  clay 
soils  they  should  only  be  irrigated  every  three  or 
four  weeks,  depending  on  the  weather. 

As  yet  but  few  growers  agree  as  to  proper  methods 
of  applying  water  and  cultivation,  no  doubt  due  to 
the  varied  condition  of  the  Southern  California  soils. 
A  method  that  might  be  ideal  in  one  section  may 
prove  to  be  entirely  wrong  in  another,  and  thus  it  is 


more  or  less  up  to  the  individual  planter  to  study 
his  local  conditions  and  treat  his  trees  accordingly. 

In  the  lighter  soils  the  basin  system  of  irrigation 
works  very  satisfactorily.  These  basins  are  made  so 
that  no  water  will  reach  the  trunk  of  the  tree  and 
large  enough  to  give  the  entire  root  system  a  thorough 
irrigation.  Usually  the  basin  should  be  just  a  little 
larger  than  the  top  diameter  of  the  tree.  If  straw 
is  available  the  basin  can  be  filled  with  it  and  this 
will  act  as  a  mulch,  and  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
hoe  or  cultivate  around  the  trees  after  each  irriga- 
tion. During  the  winter  and  after  the  irrigation 
season  is  over  it  will  be  advisable  to  cultivate  in  the 
basin  and  work  the  straw  into  the  soil  where  it  may 
be  converted  into  humus  and  plant  food  for  the 
tree  the  following  season. 

On  the  heavier  clay  soils  we  doubt  the  advisability 
of  using  the  basin  system  of  irrigation,  and  think 
the  furrow  system,  similar  to  that  used  in  citrus 
orchards,  will  prove  more  satisfactory.  Ordinarly 
we  have  sufficient  rain  so  that  winter  irrigation  is 
not  necessary,  however,  it  occasionally  happens  that 
due  to  irregular  or  a  lack  of  rain,  the  trees  may 
require  some  irrigation  during  the  winter  months. 
This  would  apply  more  particularly  to  trees  of  bear- 
ing age  and  during  or  just  after  the  blooming  stage, 
as  the  tree  must  not  be  allowed  to  suffer  from  want 
of  moisture  during  the  critical  period,  or  the  fruit 
will  not  set. 

FERTILIZATION 

This  is  another  matter  on  which  all  planters  are 
not  agreed,  some  maintaining  that  the  tree  should 
not  be  fertilized  until  it  comes  into  bearing,  and 
then  only  very  sparingly,  while  others  advocate  the 
use  of  fertilizer  from  the  time  the  trees  are'  first 
planted.  This  difference  of  opinion  we  think  is  also 
due  to  the  difference  in  soil  conditions,  and  each 
advocate  may  be  right  in  his  particular  locality.  On 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


51 


the  lighter  soils  a  little  fertilizer  applied  intelligently 
after  the  first  year  will  no  doubt  be  of  much  benefit 
to  the  tree,  while  on  the  heavier  soils  it  might  pro- 
duce too  vigorous  a  growth  and,  as  maintained  by 


PRUNING 

Very  little  attention  has  been  given  to  this  phase 
of  Avocado  culture,  and  to  date  there  has  not  been 


Avocado  tree  fruiting  in  nursery  roiv 

some,  cause  the  tree  to  be  later  in  coming  into  bear- 
ing. The  experiments  made  to  date  with  the  differ- 
ent fertilizers  seem  to  indicate  that  well  rotted  barn- 
yard manure  gives  better  results  than  the  commercial 
fertilizers.  If  the  latter  is  used,  it  should  be  as  far 
as  possible  of  animal  rather  than  mineral  origin. 


Bearing  branch  of  Dicky  A.  avocado  tree. 


Lyon  avocado  tree;  an  early  and  prolific  bearer 

• 

sufficient  experiments  made  to  determine  just  the 
proper  methods  to  pursue  with  the  different  varie- 
ties. It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  enough  pruning 
should  be  done  to  cause  the  young  tree  to  form  a 
well-balanced  head  and  frame  work  so  that  in  after 
years  it  will  be  capable  of  holding  its  maximum 
capacity  of  fruit.  Most  varieties  of  Avocados  form 
a  very  symmetrical  head  and  little  pruning  is 
required.  However,  a  little  pruning  when  young  in 
the  way  of  making  a  proper  distribution  of  the  main 
branches  will  be  of  immense  benefit  to  the  tree  in 
later  years.  All  cuts,  whether  large  or  small,  should 
be  made  smooth  and  carefully  painted  or  waxed  over 
immediately  to  prevent  fungus  or  decay. 

TOP  WORKING  AVOCADO  TREES. 

Most  of  the  earlier  plantings  of  Avocados  were 
from  seedling  trees  and  many  of  these  have  proven 
unprofitable,  either  on  account  of  the  poor  quality 
of  the  fruit  or  the  failure  of  the  trees  to  bear  fruit. 


52 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


All  such  can  be  top-worked  to  profitable  varieties 
at  less  expense  and  a  new  top  grown  in  much 
shorter  time  than  would  be  necessary  to  grow  a 
new  tree  to  bearing  age. 

The  strong  vigorous  root  system  of  the  older  tree 
causes  the  grafts  to  make  a  remarkable  growth  and 
in  two  or  three  years  the  new  top  will  be  almost  as 
large  as  the  original  tree. 


Top-worked  avocado  tree  18  months  from  budding. 

Top  working  by  grafting  gives  more  satisfactory 
results  than  budding  and  if  the  instructions  here 
given  are  followed  out  carefully  there  should  be 
no  difficulty  in  getting  a  good  stand  of  grafts. 

The  selection  of  the  scions  is  most  important. 
They  should  be  hard,  well  matured  wood  cut  from 
what  is  known  as  "second  growth,"  with  plump 
well  formed  buds  but  not  too  far  advanced.  The 
scions  should  be  from  ^  to  ^  inches  in  diameter, 
depending  on  the  size  of  the  limbs  to  be  grafted. 
The  months  of  February,  March  and  April  are  the 
best  for  grafting  the  Avocado. 

The  limbs  to  be  grafted  should  be  selected  with 
a  view  of  forming  a  well  balanced  head,  so  that 
when  the  remainder  of  the  top  is  cut  away  the  grafts 
will  make  a  shapely  tree.  Select  three  to  four  such 
limbs  evenly  distributed  and  saw  them  off  from  two 
to  four  feet  from  the  main  trunk,  depending  on  the 
size  of  the  tree.  If  the  limbs  are  large  it  is  best  to 
first  cut  them  off  a  foot  or  more  beyond  where  the 
grafts  are  to  be  inserted  to  avoid  splitting  and  then 


resaw  them  at  the  desired  location.  This  last  cut 
should  be  made  squarely  across  and  at  right  angles 
to  the  limb.  Smooth  the  surface  of  the  cut  with  a 
knife  and  with  a  cleaver  placed  across  the  middle, 
split  the  stump  far  enough  down  so  that  the  pres- 
sure will  not  be  too  great  on  the  grafts.  After  re- 
moving the  cleaver  insert  a  wedge,  made  of  some 
hard  wood,  in  the  center  of  the  split  and  drive  it  in 
so  that  the  grafts  can  be  inserted  without  bruising. 
In  selecting  the  scions  or  grafts  use  the  smaller 
scions  for  small  limbs  and  the  larger  ones  for  the 
large  limbs.  The  length  of  the  scion  is  not  impor- 
tant excepting  that  there  should  be  at  least  two  or 
three  good  buds  beyond  where  it  is  inserted  in  the 
limb.  Cut  the  lower  end  so  as  to  form  a  wedge  of 
about  one  inch  in  length.  Extreme  care  should  be 
used  in  cutting  the  wedge  so  that  the  sides  will  be 
perfectly  smooth  and  fit  perfectly.  Insert  one  scion 
on  each  side  of  the  split  in  the  stump,  remove  the 
hard  wood  wedge  carefully  so  that  the  scions  are 
slightly  pinched  but  easily  moveable  and  then  adjust 
them  so  that  the  outer  edge  of  the  scion  comes  in 
contact  with  the  cambium  layer  or  inner  bark  of  the 
stump.  This  is  important  in  all  grafting  opera- 
tions, unless  such  contact  is  made  the  scion  can  not 
unite.  After  the  scions  are  carefully  adjusted  re- 
move the  wedge  completely  and  wrap  the  stump 
with  waxed  cloth  from  the  surface  down  as  far  as 
~the  split  shows  on  the  sides.  With  a  paint  brush 
apply  a  good  coating  of  hot  grafting  wax  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  stump  and  over  the  waxed  cloth,  being 
sure  that  all  parts  are  covered  so  as  to  exclude  the 
air.  On  large  stumps  where  the  split  between  the 
scions  is  quite  wide  it  is  advisable  to  fill  it  with 
paper  or  cloth  before  applying  the  wax  to  prevent  it 
from  running  off,  also  between  the  outer  edge  of  the 
scion  and  the  waxed  cloth  there  may  be  an  opening 
due  to  the  difference  in  the  thickness  of  the  bark  on 
the  scion  and  that  of  the  stump  and  this  should  be 
carefully  filled  with  wax.  The  end  of  the  scion 
should  be  sealed  with  either  wax  or  paint  to  prevent 
its  drying  out. 

After  the  grafting  is  complete  wrap  newspaper 
around  the  stumps  so  that  it  will  extend  out  over 
the  scions  and  protect  them  from  the  sun  but  not  so 
as  to  interfere  with  their  growth.  Wherever  possi- 
ble leave  one  or  two  limbs  on  each  stump  to  keep  up 
the  flow  of  sap  and  also  one  or  two  of  main  limbs 
where  it  is  not  necessary  to  cut  them  all  off  for 
grafting.  These  limbs  should  be  left  until  the  grafts 
have  made  considerable  growth.  The  trunk  and  all 
exposed  limbs  should  be  well  whitewashed  to  pre- 
vent sunburn. 

After  the  grafts  start  to  grow  they  should  be 
carefully  watched  and  where  necessary  supported  to 
prevent  their  being  broken  by  the  wind.  On  ac- 
count of  their  rapid  growth  they  are  quite  apt  to 
make  more  top  than  the  union  can  support  the  first 
year  and  as  a  result  the  graft  breaks  out  of  the  stump 
if  not  supported.  This  can  be  overcome  somewhat 
if  the  growth  is  kept  topped  back  and  each  graft  is 
made  to  properly  branch  and  thicken  up  as  it  grows. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


53 


THE    FIFE    RECOMMENDED     VARIETIES  OF  THE  STATE  ASSOCIATION 


PUEBLA    (Mexican) 

Fruit.  True  Mexican  type,  skin  quite  thin  and  a  beau- 
tiful dark  glossy  purple  when  ripe.  It  is  (he  smallest  of 
the  recommended  varieties,  weighing  from  six  to  four'een 
ounces  wi  h  a  medium-sized  seed  which  fits  tigh  ly  in  the 
cavity.  The  flesh  is  yellow,  smooth  and  of  a  rich  flavor. 
The  period  of  eight  months  from  blossom  to  maturity  of 
the  fruit  is  the  shorest  of  any  of  the  reCDmmended  varie- 
ties. Ripens  in  December  and  January. 

Tree.  A  compact  grower,  erect  and  very  hardy.  Has 
proven  to  be  an  early  and  heavy  bearer.  Considered  one 
of  the  best  types  of  Avocados. 

History.  Introduced  as  budwood  in  1911  by  West  India 
Gardens  from  Atlisco,  Puebla,  Mexico,  under  No.  13.  One 
of  ih?  two  varieties  selected  from  over  a  hundred  that 
were  introduced  from  lhat  sec. ion. 


The  prolific  bearing  Lyon   avocado 


FUERTE    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Pear-shaped,  dull  green  in  color  and  matures 
at  an  exceptionally  good  time.  Weight  from  ten  to  .six- 
teen, ounces  and  has  a  medium-sized  seed.  Samples  of 
the  fruit  have  analyzed  as  high  as  30  percent  fat  or  oil, 
being  one  of  the  highest  yet  tested.  This,  together  with 
its  other  good  qualities,  gives  it  rank  as  one  of  the  best. 
Ripens  January  to  March  inclusive. 

Tree.  Very  vigorous  but  of  spreading  habit,  appears 
to  be  a  hybrid  of  the  Mexican  and  Guatemalan  types  and 
has  proven  to  be  the  most  hardy  on  the  list.  It  bears 
"early  and  regularly. 

History.  Introduced  as  budwood  in  1911  from  Atlisco, 
Puebla,  Mexico,  under  No.  15.  This  is  the  only  other 
variety  selected  from  the  one  hundred  odd  varieties  intro- 
duced from  the  highlands  of  Mexico. 

SPINKS   (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Varies  from  nearly  round  to  slightly  pear  shape 
and  weighs  from  sixteen  to  twenty  ounces. '  The  seed 
averages  large  in  proportion  to  the  flesh,  but  fits  tightly 
in  the  cavity.  The  flesh  is  cream-colored,  smooth  and  of 
a  rich  pleasant  flavor.  When  fully  mature,  the  thick 
purplish-black  skin  gives  the  fruit  a  very  attractive  ap- 
pearance and  makes  it  a  particular  favorite  on  the  mar- 
ket. It  is  considered  equal  to  the  finest  flavored  Guate- 
malan fruits.  Ripens  April  to  June  inclusive. 


Tree.  An  unusually  strong  upright  grower  and  has 
proven  to  be  hardy  and  quite  prolific. 

History.  The  variety  is  of  local  origin,  having  been 
selected  from  a  number  of  seedlings  grown  on  Mr.  W.  A. 
Spink's  place  at  Duarte,  California.  True  G  atemalan 
type. 

DICKIN'SON    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Oval  to  abovate  in  form,  weighing  from  12  to 
18  ounces.  The  skin  is  unusually  thick,  woody  and  quite 
rough.  When  ripe  the  purple  glossy  color  gives  it  a  very 
handsome  appearance.  The  seed  is  medium  in  size  and 
fits  tigh  ly  in  the  cavity.  The  flesh  is  a  pale  greenish 
yellow,  free  from  fibre  and  has  a  rich,  agreeable  flavor. 
Ripens  from  May  to  September. 

Tree.  A  strong  rapid  grower  and  a  regular  and  early 
bearer. 

History.  The  original  tree  was  grown  from  a  seed 
planted  in  1899  by  Mrs.  M.  J.  Dickinson,  Los  Angeles. 
Belongs  to  the  Guatemalan  type. 

SHARPLESS    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Pear-shaped  and  weighs  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
ounces.  The  surface  is  slightly  pitted  or  roughened  and 
is  a  beautiful  bronze  or  dark  maroon  color  when  ripe. 
The  flesh  is  cream-colored,  smooth,  free  from  fibre  and 
of  a  very  rich  pleasant  flavor.  The  seed  is  small  and 
completely  fills  the  cavity.  In  direct  contrast  to  the  Puebla, 
(he  quickest  to  mature,  the  Sharpless  requires  eighteen 
mon'hs  from  blossom  to  maturity  of  fruit.  Ripens  from 
September  to  January. 

Tree.  A  strong  upright  grower  and  trees  budded  from 
the  parent  tree  indicate  that  it  will  be  an  early  and  regu- 
lar bearer.  The  difficulty  in  propagating  this  variety 
makes  it  rather  more  expensive  to  raise  and  therefore  it 
will  probably  always  be  higher  priced  than  other  varie- 
ties. 

History.  Introduced  by  B.  H.  Sharpless  of  Santa  Ana, 
California,  where  the  original  tree  is  now  growing. 

The  Dickinson  and  Sharpless  are  not  considered  quite 
as  hardy  as  the  first  three  varie:ies  and  should  only  be 
planted  where  lemons  are  considered  safe  from  frost. 


Fruit  of  the  Sharpless  avocado 

If  the  orchardist  or  home  grower  will  plant  these  five 
proven  varieties,  he  will  be  assured  of  a  succession  of 
fruit  during  every  month  in  the  year.  The  bearing  sea- 
sons given  are  the  months  during  which  the  principal  or 
main  crop  may  be  marketed.  Many  trees  will  mature  a 
few  fruits  before  this  time  and  also  hold  fruits  much 
later  than  the  months  specified,  but  such  fruits  usually 
represent  a  small  percentage  of  the  total  yield. 


54 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


VARIETIES  OF  MORE  OR  LESS  COMMERCIAL 
IMPORTANCE 


LYON    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Shape  pyriform,  weighs  from  sixteen  to  eighteen 
ounces.  Skin  moderately  thick  and  somewhat  rough; 
dark  green  in  color  with  numerous  small  yellowish  or 
russet  dots.  Flesh  a  deep  cream  tinged  with  green  toward 
the  skin  and  has  a  rich  pleasant  flavor.  Seed  of  medium 
size,  fitting  tightly  in  the  cavity.  Ripens  April  to  August. 

Tree.  Very  upright  in  its  growth  but  not  so  vigirous 
as  some  of  the  other  varieties.  It  is  an  early  and  pro- 
live  bearer,  often  setting  fruit  while  yet  in  the  nursery 
row.  On  account  of  its  tall,  slender  growth  this  variety 
can  be  planted  much  closer  together  than  other  sorts; 
fifteen  feet  apart  each  way  being  considered  not  too  close 
by  some  growers. 

History.  Originated  at  Hollywood  from  seed  imported 
by  L.  Lyon  in  1913.  Of  Guatemalan  origin. 

BLAKEMAN    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Pyriform,  weighing  froi>:  sixteen  to  twenty 
ounces.  Skin  thick  and  woody,  slightly  roughened  and 
dark  green  in  color.  Flesh  a  deep  cream  yellow  tinged 
with  green  near  the  skin;  flavor  rich  and  pleasant;  qual- 
ity good.  Seed  medium  size  fitting  rightly  in  the  cavity. 
Ripens  April  to  August. 

Tree.  A  strong  grower  but  its  spreading  tendency 
necessi.ates  early  pruning  to  produce  a  compact  head; 
it  is  fairly  hardy  and  a  good  bearer. 

History.  Originated  at  Hollywood  from  seed  brought 
in  by  John  Murrietta  and  planted  in  1904.  First  described 
in  the  Journal  of  Agriculture  for  November,  1913,  under 
the  name  of  Dickey  No.  2.  It  has  also  been  known  as 
Habersham. 

TAFT    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Obvate  to  pyriform ;  weight  sixteen  ounces,  skin 
thick  and  somewhat  roughened,  deep  green  in  color 
Flesh  cream  colored,  smooth  and  of  excellent  flavor.  Seed 
of  medium  size  fitting  tightly  in  the  cavity.  Ripens  May 
to  October. 

Tree.  A  rapid  grower  of  spreading  habit.  Not  con- 
sidered sufficiently  hardy  to  plant  where  there  is  danger 
of  heavy  frosts.  Also  inclined  to  be  rather  late  in  coming 
into  bearing. 

History.  Originated  at  Orange,  California,  by  C.  P. 
Taft  from  seed  planted  in  1900. 

QUEEN    (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Pyriform,  weight  one  and  one-half  pounds.  Skin 
thick  and  woody;  deep  purple  in  color.  Flesh  rich  clear 
yellow,  changing  to  dark  green  near  the  skin,  and  has  a 
rich  nutty  flavor.  Seed  very  small,  completely  filling  the 
cavity.  Ripens  in  early  summer.  This  is  one  of  the 
promising  new  varieties. 

Tree.  Vigorous  but  of  somewhat  spreading  growth ; 
very  productive. 

History.  Introduced  by  E.  E.  Knight  of  Yorba  Linda, 
California,  from  budwood  brought  from  an  elevation  of 
5,200-feet  in  Guatemala. 

LINDA   (Guatemalan) 

Fruit.  Nearly  round,  weight  about  two  pounds.  Skin 
rough,  thick  and  woody,  deep  purple  in  color.  Flesh  firm, 
yellowish  in  color,  with  a  rich  nutty  flavor..  Seed  me- 
dium size  and  tight  in  cavity.  Ripens  from  October  to 
March  in  Guatemala. 


Tree.     Vigorous  and  hardy,  productiveness  good. 

History.  Introduced  as  budwood  from  Guatemala  in 
1914  by  E.  E.  Knight  as  Knight's  No.  39. 

PICKING,  PACKING  AND  MARKETING 

The  ordinary  orange  clipper  is  the  best  for  pick- 
ing Avocados.  They  should  be  clipped  from  the  tree 
at  a  point  just  above  the  swollen  part  of  the  stem, 
usually  about  one  inch  from  where  the  steam  is  at- 
tached to  the  fruit.  There  has  been  much  discussion 
with  regard  to  the  proper  time  to  pick  the  fruit,  and 
in  the  past  not  a  little  fruit  has  been  picked  and  mar- 
keted in  a  green  state,  a  condition  to  be  very  much 
regretted  as  it  has  a  detrimental  effect  on  the  con- 
sumption of  good  fruit.  Many  more  people  would 
now  be  eating  Avocados  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
the  first  one  they  tried  happened  to  be  immature  and 
consequently  lacked  the  rich  nutty  flavor  always 
found  in  well-matured  fruits. 

For  home  use  the  Avocado  should  be  left  on  the 
tree  until  it  is  quite  mature.  The  dark  or  purple 
skinned  fruit  should  not  be  picked  until  the  entire 
surface,  especially  around  the  stem,  has  changed  from 
green  to  purple.  The  green  skinned  fruit  should  be 
left  on  the  tree  until  the  stem  has  commenced  to 
show  a  distinct  yellow  cast  and  the  fruit  loses  its 
glossy  green  color  and  assumes  a  dull  or  yellowish 
shade. 

For  market  purposes  the  fruit  should  be  picked  at 
a  somewhat  earlier  stage,  but  the  most  suitable  time 
will  necessarily  have  to  be  ascertained  by  individual 
experiments  and  tests  until  the  California  Avocado 
Association  has  had  sufficient  time  to  compute  the 
maturity  standards  and  dates  of  ripening  of  the  differ- 
ent varieties.  The  Association  hopes  to  have  this 
data  complete  in  the  near  future,  at  which  time  the 
growers  will  be  advised  as  to  what  condition  the  dif- 
ferent varieties  should  be  in,  to  comply  with  the  ma- 
turity standard.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  all  growers 
will  co-operate  with  the  Association  in  this  work  to 
the  end  that  the  practice  of  marketing  either  imma- 
ture or  over-ripe  fruit  will  be  eliminated. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  local  consumption  has 
been  sufficient  to  take  care  of  all  the  fruit  raised  in 
California  and  little  or  no  attention  has  been  paid  to 
the  matter  of  picking  for  shipment.  In  Florida,  Avo- 
cadoes  are  packed  in  tomato  crates  which  are  similar 
to  our  orange  boxes  being  12x1 2x24. inches,  divided 
into  two  compartments.  Coarse  excelsior  is  used  be- 
tween the  layers  of  fruit  to  prevent  bruising.  The 
fruit  is  not  wrapped  as  this  tends  to  hasten  ripening, 
causing  it  to  reach  the  market  in  a  soft  and  unsalable 
condition. 

As  the  production  increases  there  will  no  doubt  be 
some  uniform  method  of  packing  adopted  whereby 
the  fruit  will  present  the  most  attractive  appearance 
and  at  the  same  time  reach  the  consumer  in  the  best 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


55 


possible  condition.  With  properly  matured  fruit  put 
up  in  attractive  packages  there  is  no  question  but  that 
there  will  be  an  ever-increasing  demand  for  this  valu- 
able food  product  that  will  take  care  of  the  produc- 
tion for  many  years  to  come. 

FOOD  VALUE 

The  Avocado  by  chemical  analysis  contains  neither 
acid  nor  sugar  and  heads  the  lists  of  fruits  rich  in 
mineral  matter  and  protein,  but  its  greatest  food  value 
lies  in  its  oil  content,  which,  in  the  better  varieties, 
varies  from  1 7  to  30  per  cent  of  vegetable  oil  or  fat. 
Most  of  our  fruits  analyze  200  to  300  food  units  per 
pound  expressed  in  calories,  while  the  Avocado  aver- 
ages 1,000  calories.  In  fact,  it  is  nature's  combina- 
tion of  two  types  of  food — fruit  and  oil. 


The  Avocado  and  the  Olive  are  practically  the 
only  two  fruits  that  contain  any  notable  amount  of 
fat  or  oil.  The  latter  fruit  has  the  disadvantage  of 
requiring  processing  before  it  is  ready  for  consump- 
tion, and  should  really  rank  as  a  processed  fruit.  The 
Avocado  stands  higher  in  oil  content  than  the  olive. 
It  ranks  with  milk  and  eggs  and  is  fully  equal  to  lean 
meat.  It  has  the  medicinal  quality  of  a  soothing  laxa- 
tive and  is  more  easily  assimilated  than  either  dairy 
butter  or  meat. 

In  Africa  the  Avocado,  in  addition  to  being  con- 
sumed regularly,  is  rendered  like  lard  and  butter  and 
in  this  way  made  to  produce  a  commodity  similar  to 
butter  and  fully  as  apetizing  and  nutritious. 


ACQUIRING  A  TASTE  FOR  THE  AVOCADO 


THE  flesh  of  the  Avocado  has  a  delicate, 
rich  nutty  flavor  and  a  smooth  buttery  tex- 
ture which  is  very  pleasant  and  satisfying. 
People  best  acquainted  with  the  Avocado, 
especially  those  from  the  tropics,  prefer  it  just  as 
nature  has  perfected  it,  without  any  seasoning,  liking 
the  natural,  delicious  nutty  flavor  unchanged  by 
condiments.  The  flavor  strikes  the  palate  at  once 
as  different,  and  the  taste  for  it  sometimes  needs  to 
be  cultivated.  Possibly  the  best  way  for  the  novice 
to  do  this  is  to  use  a  little  lime  or  lemon  juice  and 
sugar,  if  preferred,  which  seems  to  bring  out  the 
delicate  flavor  and  the  qualities  of  the  fruit,  and  also 
supplies  the  acid  and  sugar  contents  which  the  Avo- 
cado lacks  and  people  are  accustomed  to  in  all  of  our 
common  fruits.  After  a  short  time  he  will  invariably 
find  himself  thoughtlessly  omitting  these  additions 
and  will  commence  to  appreciate  the  natural  deli- 
cate qualities  of  the  fruit.  Many  people  prefer 
simply  the  addition  of  salt,  and  if  the  flesh  is  first 
slightly  scored  or  slashed  with  the  knife  or  fork 
before  adding  the  salt  and  then  allowed  to  set  for  a 
few  minutes  until  the  salt  has  dissolved  and  mixed 
with  the  oil  of  the  fruit,  the  rich  nutty  flavor  seems 
to  be  brought  out  more  prominently. 

The  fruit  as  picked  from  the  tree  is  hard  and 
inedible,  and  should  not  be  used  until  it  has  softened 
or  mellowed  so  that  when  pressed  it  yields  to  the 
slight  pressure  of  the  finger  or  leaves  a  slight  indented 
impression  in  the  skin,  showing  that  the  flesh  has 
become  mellow  like  an  apple  or  pear.  This  usually 
requires  from  seven  to  fourteen  days  after  picking, 
according  to  whether  the  temperature  is  hot  or  cold 
where  the  fruit  is  kept.  After  the  proper  ripening 
stage  is  reached  they  remain  only  a  few  days  in  a 
fit  condition  to  eat.  Ripening  may  be  hastened  by 
placing  the  fruit  in  boxes  filled  with  straw,  leaves, 
or  similar  material.  Some  claim  that  the  fruit 
ripens  more  evenly  when  these  boxes  are  kept  in  a 
warm  place.  The  Avocado  may  be  served  with  any 
course  of  food  from  soup  to  nuts. 


AVOCADO  RECIPES 

Half-shell.  Cut  the  fruit  in  halves  and  remove  the  seed. 
Serve  one  half  to  each  person,  natural,  or  with  lime  or 
lemon  juice,  or  salt  as  previously  described.  The  flesh 
of  the  fruit  is  scooped  out  of  the  shell  with  a  spoon.  As  a 
breakfast  dish  this  is  very  much  appreciated  and  most 
easily  digested. 

Avocado  au  Natural.  Remove  the  skin  and  slice  the 
fruit  as  thin  as  desired.  Serve  on  a  plate  garnished  with 
celery  hearts  or  with  tomatoes.  To  be  eaten  with  a  fork, 
with  or  without  salt  as  preferred. 

Avocado  Sandwich.  One  that  may  be  recommended  for 
its  healthfulness  as  well  as  for  its  flavor,  has  a  thick 
layer  of  well  salted  crushed  avocado  filling  with  very 
thin  slices  of  peeled  lime  or  lemons. 

Hawaiian  Sandwich.  Remove  skin  and  seed,  or  scoop 
out  flesh  from  hard  shelled  varieties,  mash  the  flesh  very 
fine,  season  to  taste  with  salt,  lime  or  lemon  juice,  and 
spread  liberally  on  a  lettuce  leaf  placed  between  thin 
slices  of  bread.  No  butter  should  be  spread  on  the  bread 
as  the  Avocado  is  a  complete  and  better  ingredient  to  use. 
This  is  a  dainty  and  most  delicious  way  of  serving. 

On  Toast.  Remove  flesh  with  a  spoon  and  mash  with 
a  fork.  Spread  thickly  on  a  mall  square  of  hot  toast. 
Add  a  little  salt.  This  is  one  of  the  nicest  ways  of  serv- 
ing the  Avocado. 

In  Soups.  The  Avocado  is  used  extensively  in  the  tropics 
in  all  kinds  of  meat  soups.  Cut  in  small  cubes  and  add 
to  the  soup  just  before  serving.  The  flavor  imparted  is 
exceedingly  pleasant. 

With  Nuts  and  Olives.  Chop  nuts  and  olives,  mix  with 
an  equal  quantity  of  mashed  Avocado.  Spread  between 
thin  slices  of  bread  and  butter,  with  lettuce.  Mix  ground 
walnuts  with  Avocado  pulp  to  thick  paste  and  spread  on 
thin  Graham  bread  or  wafers.  Also  makes  fine  addi  ion 
to  any  salad. 

Avocado  Ice  Cream.  (1)  One  gallon  cream,  one  pound 
sugar,  pulp  of  sixteen  medium  sized  Avocados.  Rub 
Avocados  through  a  seive,  add  to  cream  and  freeze. 
(2)  Yolks  of  five  eggs,  one  quart  milk,  green  maraschino 
cherries,  two  cups  sugar,  four  medium  size  Avocados, 
almond  or  vanilla  extract.  Make  a  boiled  custard  of 
milk,  eggs  and  sugar;  flavor.  When  cool  add  the  fruit 
and  freeze.  A  maraschino  cherry  on  top  of  each  dish 
is  an  attraction. 

These  recipes  were  selected  on  account  of  their  sim- 
plicity, but  the  thoughtful  housewife  can  enlarge  upon 
them  and  find  many  ways  of  combining  and  serving  the 
Avocado.  The  fruit  is  used  very  extensively  in  salads  of 
all  kinds. 


56 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


A   Montezuma  tree  in    Guatemala,   producing  3000  fruits  per  annum  averaging  7J/2  pounds  each. 


MISCELLANEOUS  TROPICAL  FRUITS 


FEIJOA    SELLOWIANA 

The  Feijoa,  (pronounced  Fay-zho-a,  accenting  the  mid- 
dle syllable)  sometimes  called  the  Pineapple  Guava,  is 
a  native  of  South  America  and  was  first  i-ntroduced  into 
France  by  Edouard  Andre  in  1890.  From  there  it  was 
brought  to  California  about  1900,  and  through  the  efforts 
of  Dr.  Francheschi,  of  Santa  Barbara,  calling  attention  of 
plant  growers  to  its  merits  it  has  attracted  considerable 
popularity. 

The  plant  never  attains  a  height  of  more  than  fifteen 
to  eighteen  feet.  The  leaves  are  similar  in  form  and  ap- 
pearance to  those  of  the  olive,  the  upper  surface  being  a 
glossy  green,  and  the  lower  silver  gray.  This,  together 
with  its  strikingly  handsome  flowers  makes  it  a  very 


attractive  plant  for  the  garden.  The  fruit  of  (he  im- 
proved varieties  is  from  two  and  a  half  to  four  inches 
long  and  two  to  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  of  a 
dull  green  color  overspread  with  a  whitish  bloom.  The 
skin  is  thin,  next  to  which  is  a  light  granular  flesh  sur- 
rounding a  jelly  like  pulp  containing  twenty  to  thirty 
minute  seeds. 

The  flavor  is  pleasing  and  suggestive  of  pineapple  and 
strawberry  and  has  an  aroma  that  is  delightful  and  pene- 
trating. The  fruit  may  be  eaten  fresh  as  picked  from 
the  tree  or  it  may  be  stewed  or  made  into  jam  or  jelly. 
It  also  makes  excellent  pies. 

The  Feijoa  is  hardier  than  most  sub-tropical  fruits  and 
will  withstand  a  temperature  of  15  degrees  above  zero 
with  little  or  no  injury.  It  prefers  a  dry  climate  but  not 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


57 


one  of  extremely  high  temperature.  Where  planted  in 
the  moist  tropical  regions  it  has  not  proven  successful.  It 
will  stand  considerable  hardships  and  is  quite  drouth- 
resistant  when  once  established,  but  reaches  perfection 


Specimen  plant  Feijoa  choiceana. 


only  when  it  is  properly  irrigated  and  cultivated.  It  will 
thrive  on  almost  any  kind  of  soil  excepting  where  there 
is  a  surplus  of  lime,  but  it  seems  to  do  best  on  a  sandy 
loam  rich  in  humus.  The  plants  should  be  set  from  fifteen 
to  eighteen  feet  apart  and  watered  liberally  while  young. 

Plants  grown  from  seeds  do  not  come  true  to  type  nor 
are  they  always  self  fertile.  To  insure  plants  that  will 
produce  and  be  of  desirable  types  we  graft  all  of  our 
Feijoas  from  the  best  fruiting  sorts. 

Choiceana.  One  of  the  best  large  fruiting  sorts.  Fruits 
oblong  about  three  inches  in  length.  Is  of  excellent 
quality  and  a  good  bearer.  Ripens  in  the  late  Fall. 

Superba.  Fruit  is  nearly  round  and  the  plant  not  quite 
so  compact  in  its  growth,  otherwise  it  is  similar  to  the 
Choiceana, 


CHERIMOYA   (Anona  Cherimolia) 

The  Cherimoya,  sometimes  called  the  Custard  Apple, 
is  a  native  of  South  America  from  where  it  spread  north- 
ward into  Central  America  and  Mexico.  It  is  not  strictly 
a  tropical  fruit  and  might  be  better  classed  as  sub-tropical, 
as  it  prefers  a  cool,  relatively  dry  climate  and  in  its  native 
habitat  it  only  reaches  perfection  at  (he  higher  elevations 
back  from  the  coast.  In  Guatemala  and  Mexico  the 
finest  Cherimoyas  are  to  be  found  at  an  elevation  from 
3,000  to  8,000  feet  where  the  climate  is  mild  and  no  ex- 
tremes of  either  heat  or  cold  are  experienced.  Young 
plants  will  be  hurt  by  a  temperature  of  29  to  30  degrees 
above  zero,  but  mature  trees  will  stand  a  temperature  as 
low  as  26  or  27  degrees  without  serious  injury. 

The  tree  is  erect  but  has  somewhat  of  a  spreading  habit 
and  rarely  reaches  more  than  twenty-five  feet  in  height. 
The  fruit  is  usually  heart  shaped  but  is  sometimes  irreg- 
ular in  form.  It  also  varies  in  weight  from  a  few  ounces 
to  as  high  as  five  pounds,  however,  the  budded  or  graf'ed 
varieties  are  more  regular  in  both  shape  and  weight.  The 
surface  of  the  fruit  is  usually  covered  with  small  conical 
protuberances,  is  light  green  in  color  and  has  a  thin  skin 
making  it  necessary  to  handle  the  ripe  fruit  very  care- 
fully to  prevent  bruising.  The  flesh  is  white  and  of  a 
melting  juicy  texture.  It  has  a  very  delicate  sub-acid 
flavor  suggestive  of  pineapple  and  banana.  When  ready 
to  pick,  which  is  from  January  to  April  in  California,  the 
fruit  usually  has  a  yellowish  tinge.  Under  favorable 
conditions  the  trees  begin  to  bear  the  third  or  fourth  year. 

Only  budded  or  grafted  trees  should  be  planned  as 
seedlings  do  not  always  come  true  and  very  often  are  light 
bearers. 

The  Cherimoya  prefers  a  rich,  loamy  soil,  but  seems 
to  do  fairly  well  on  both  ligh"  and  heavy  soils,  provided 
climatic  conditions  are  favorable. 

Irrigations  during  the  summer  months  should  be 
applied  every  two  to  four  weeks  according  to  weather 
conditions.  A  thorough  cultivation  should  follow  after 
each  irrigation. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  trees  be  kept  pruned  to 
form  a  low  compact  head,  as  this  tends  to  make  them 
longer  lived  and  more  precocious. 


THE   WHITE   SAPOTE    (Casimiroa   edulis) 

The  White  Sapote  is  a  native  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America  and  is  one  of  the  principal  cultivated  fruits  of 
those  regions,  being  held  in  very  high  es':eem  by  the 
natives.  It  is  sub-tropical  in  its  climatic  requirements, 
and  in  its  native  home  it  thrives  best  in  the  highlands 
at  an  elevation  of  from  2,000  to  3,000  feet  and  is  not 
found  where  the  rainfall  is  excessive. 

It  was  first  introduced  into  California  in  about  1810, 
but  until  recent  years  has  attracted  very  little  attention. 
This  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  all  trees  planted  were 
seedlings,  which  do  not  come  true  to  type,  some  bearing 
small  bitter  fruit  and  others  being  shy  bearers,  or  not 
bearing  any  fruit  whatever. 

The  tree  is  medium  sized,  erect  or  spreading  in  its 
growth,  with  compound  leaves.  The  fruit  is  about  the 
size  of  an  orange  and  of  a  yellowish  green  color.  The 
skin  is  thin  and  the  yellowish  flesh  of  soft  melting  texture 
has  a  peach-like  flavor.  Ripens  in  the  Fall  and  early 
Winter. 

Seedling  trees  do  not  come  into  bearing  until  seven 
or  eight  years  old  but  budded  varieties  fruit  much  earlier. 

It  should  be  grown  on  well  drained  soil,  sandy  loam 
being  preferable,  but  will  also  do  well  on  heavier  clay 
soil,  provided  the  drainage  is  good. 

It  is  quite  drought  resistant  but  will  do  much  better 
if  irrigated  about  the  same  as  citrus  trees.  Should  not 
be  planted  where  it  is  too  cold  for  Avocados. 


58 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


THE   GUAVA 

The  Guava  belongs  to  the  Myrtle  family  and  is  said 
to  be  a  native  of  tropical  America.  While  it  may  be 
used  in  many  ways,  its  most  general  use  is  for  jelly 
making  for  which  purpose  it  is  unexcelled.  It  is  first 
mentioned  in  Gonzalo  Hernandez  de  Oviedo's  "Natural 
History  of  the  Indies"  written  in  the  year  1526. 


STRAWBERRY   GUAVA 

Fruit.  Obovate  to  round  in  form,  being  from  one  to 
one  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter,  purplish  red  in 
color  and  medium  thick  skin.  The  flesh  is  pink  next  to 
the  skin  changing  to  a  creamy  white  in  the  center  and 
contains  a  number  of  small  hard  seed.  When  fully 
mature  it  has  a  sweet  strawberry  flavor.  Makes  excel- 


A    handsome    and    symmetrical    White    Sapota    tree. 


The  tree  rarely  attains  a  height  of  more  than  twenty- 
five  feet  and  for  the  first  few  years  appears  to  be  more 
of  a  shrub  than  a  tree.  Most  varieties  are  very  prolific 
and  come  into  bearing  at  an  early  age.  It  is  strictly  a 
tropical  fruit  and  should  be  grown  only  in  sheltered 
places,  although  some  varieties  are  more  hardy  and  can 
be  planted  safely  wherever  oranges  do  well. 

It  is  not  particular  as  to  soil  as  it  seems  to  do  equally 
well  on  all  classes  of  soil  from  the  lightest  sandy  loam 
to  the  heaviest  adobe,  however  it  must  have  sufficient 
moisture  to  produce  an  abundance  of  good  fruit.  Only 
the  hardier  varieties  are  recommended  for  California 
planting;  the  Strawberry  and  Yellow  Strawberry  being  the 
hardiest. 


lent  jellies  and  can  be  eaten  out  of  hand  when  thoroughly- 
ripe.     Ripens  October  and  November. 

Tree.  More  of  a  shrub  than  a  tree,  rarely  attaining 
a  height  of  more  than  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet.  Its 
glossy  green  leaves  make  it  very  attractive  as  an  orna- 
mental plant.  Quite  hardy  and  will  stand  about  the 
same  temperature  as  the  orange. 

History.  It  is  a  native  of  Brazil  but  at  an  early  date 
was  carried  to  China  and  for  many  years  was  considered 
to  be  a  native  of  the  latter  country  and  was  called  the 
Chinese  Guava. 


R.  M.  Teague  Nurseries,  San  Dimas,  Cal. 


59 


Specimen  fruit  of  the  Anona  Cherimoya  or  custard  apple. 


YELLOW  STRAWBERRY  GUAVA 

Fruit.  Yellow  in  color  and  somewhat  larger  than  the 
red  variety,  also  has  a  milder  and  more  delicate  flavor. 
Ripens  at  the  same  time. 


History.     Belongs  to  the  same  species  and  is  probably 
a  seed  variation. 

Tree.     Similar   in  growth   and   appearance  to   the   red 
variety  and  of  about  the  same  hardiness. 


Massed  group  of  Anona  Cherimoya  and  avocado  trees. 


60 


Citrus  and  Tropical  Fruit  Culture 


TOPICAL   INDEX 


CITRUS   FRUITS 


Page 
Citrus  Fruits: 

Historical     _ 4-8 

Buds   From   Record  Trees 11-12 

Buds    Selection ....8-11 

Growing  Teague  Quality  Trees 8 

Preparing  the  Land  for  Orchard. .14-15 

Selecting  Good  Citrus  Land 13-14 

Training  the   Young  Buds 12-13 

Methods  of  Planting : 

Hexagonal  or  Septuple   System 16 

Planting    Balled    Trees 20 

Planting    Open    Root    Trees 20 

Quincunx     System 16 

Selecting  Good  Trees 18 

Square    System 15 

Triangular  or  Alternate  System 16 

Care  of  the  Orchard: 

Orchard  Management 20-22 

Fertilization 22-24 

Pruning  the  Orange 24 

Pruning  the  Lemon 24-25 

Handling  the   Crop 36-40 

Standard  Varieties  of  Oranges?, 

Homosassa    28 

Joppa    28 

Malta    Blood 29 

Mediterranean     Sweet 28 

Navelencia 28 

Paper  Rind   St.   Michael 28 

Ruby    Blood 29 

Thomson   Improved   Navel 25 

Valencia    Late 25 

Washington    Navel 25 

Standard  Varieties  of  Lemons: 

Eureka    32 

Lisbon    33 

Villa    Franca 33 

Standard  Varieties  Kid  Glove   Oranges: 

Dancy    Tangerine 30 

King    Mandarin 30 

Satsuma     (Oonshiu) 31 

Willow  Leaved  Mandarin....  ....31 


Page 
Standard  Limes : 

Mexican    Lime 34 

Tahiti    Lime 34 

Standard  Pomelos: 

Duncan   Pomelo 35 

Foster    Pomelo 35 

Marsh    Seedless    Pomelo 34 

Triumph   Pomelo 34 

Kumquats: 

N'agami    31 


Nev>  and  Rare  Varieties  of  Oranges: 

Bitter    Seville 30 

Golden    Buckeye    Navel 29 

Golden  Nugget  Navel 29 

Lue    Gim    Gong , 29 

Sweet    Seville 30 

Vanilla     Orange 30 

New  and  Rare  Varieties  of  Lemons: 

Cedrola    33 

Dwarf    Lemon 33 

Ponderosa    Lemon 33 

Sweet    Lemon 33 

Neia  Varieties  Kid  Glove  Oranges: 

Algerian    Mandarin 32 

Algerian    Tangerine 32 

New  and  Rare  Varieties  of  Limes: 

Rangpur  Lime    (Red  Lime) 34 

Sweet    Lima 34 

Thornless    Lime 34 

Ornamental  Varieties  of  Oranges: 

Bouquet  des  Fleurs 30 

Golden    Variegated 30 

Variegated    Navel 30 

Ornamental  Lemons: 

Variegated    Lemon ....33 


Odd  Citrus  Varieties: 

Bun    Tan 35 

Citrange    3  5 

Citron    of    Commerce 35 

Sampson    Tangelo 35 


TROPICAL   FRUITS 


Avocados     ( Historical ) 43 

Acquiring  a  Taste  for  the  Avocado.... 55 

Climate  and  Soil 48 

Cultural     Directions 50 

Distance   to   Plant 48 

Early  Introduction  in  California... .43-46 

Fertilization    50 

Food    Value 55 

Growing  and  Transplan*ingTrees  46-47 

Picking,   Packing   and   Marketing 54 

Planting    48 

Planting    Season 48 

Pruning    51 

Top  Working  Avocado  Trees 51-52 

Recipes    for   Preparing   Avocados 55 

Recommended   Varieties: 

Dickenson     53 

Fuerte     53 

Puebla    .  ....53 


Sharpless 53 

Spinks    53 

Varieties  of  More  or  Less  Commercial 
Importance: 

Blakeman    , 54 

Linda    54 

Lyon    54 

Queen    34 

Taft    54 

Cherimoya    (Anona    Cherimolia) 57 

Feijoa   Sellowiana 56 

Choiceana    Variety 57 

Superba     Variety 57 

The    Guava 58 

Strawberry     Variety 58 

Yellow    Strawberry  Variety 59 

The  White  Sapote   (Casimiroa  edulis)..57 


THE 
" EXPAN 


PROTECTOR 

FOR 

CITRUS   AND   TROPICAL 
FRUIT   TREES 


Every  newly  planted  tree  should  have  some  pro- 
tection from  the  sun  until  it  has  made  sufficient  top 
to  protect  the  trunk. 

These  protectors  not  only  answer  this  purpose 
but  are  a  protection  against  rabbits  and  squirrels 
and  prevent  sucker  growth  on  the  young  stock. 

Will  not  crack  or  split;  are  tough  and  durable, 
waterproof,  and  will  last  on  the  trees  from  two  to 
four  years. 

Provided  with  wire  fasteners — can  be  put  on  the 
tree  or  removed  in  a  moment's  time. 

Made  in  two  weights  of  heavy  paraffined  paper 
— No.  1,  medium;  No.  3,  extra  heavy;  perforated 
as  shown  in  illustration,  or  solid,  as  desired.  AND 
THEY  ARE  CHEAP. 

When  ordering,  state  whether  perforated  or 
plain  protectors  are  wanted. 


Length 
Inches 

24 
18 
14 
12 


Price 
Per   100 

$2.25 
2.00 
1.75 
1.50 


Price 
Per   1000 

$18.50 
15.00 
12.50 
11.25 


YUCCA  TREE  PROTECTORS.  Made 
from  the  Yucca  Palm,  being  light, 
porous  and  efficient. 

24                             2.25  18.00 

18                             2.00  15.00 

14                             1.75  12.50 

12                             1.50  11.25 


Sfrong  Growth  I 
Productive  Value 


GOOD  FRUIT 

AND 


PLENTY  OF  IT 


Is  only  possible  from  vig- 
orous trees  grown  from 
Fruit  Growers'  Supply 
Company  selected  buds 
from  performance  record 
bearing  trees  on  selected 
root  stocks ;  the  only  kind 
we  grow. 


The  R.M.  league 
Nurseries 


SAN  DMAS,  CALIFORNIA 


GAYLAMOUNT 

PAMPHLET  BINDER 

Manufactured  by 

GAYLORD  BROS.  Inc. 

Syracuse,  N.Y. 

Stockton,  Calif. 


UNIVE1 

BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JAN    6    1948 


"     7       ' 


9  JurfSOGE 
7jan52CFC 


5  May  5  2  Ht 
5  May  5  210 


UAN  1  7  2004 


LD  21-100wi-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


